02 Chrysler Sebring Lxi 96k Miles Ice Cold Air Leather Moonroof Clean No Reserve on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Detroit's new emergency city manager worked on Chrysler bankruptcy [w/video]

Kevyn Orr, the new emergency city manager of Detroit, has a history with one of Michigan's most famous residents: Chrysler. Governor Rick Snyder (at right) appointed Orr to the position yesterday with the belief that Detroit needs outside assistance to right the city's mounting financial woes. Orr (at left), a partner with the Jones Day law firm, will begin work on March 25 and receive $275,000 a year for his work. While state officials believe the new city manager will be able to complete his duties in 18 months, the contract is technically open-ended.
The 54-year-old attorney helped steer Chrysler through its 2009 bankruptcy, earning $700 per hour for his efforts. He was also instrumental in convincing the courts to allow Chrysler to shutter 789 dealerships in a single month. Orr says he's aware that his efforts won't have made him any friends in Southern Michigan.

Bailout dealership cuts did their job as profits surge

Almost five years after US taxpayers bailed out General Motors and Chrysler, a large majority of their slimmed-down dealership networks are posting soaring profits, Bloomberg reports, and contributing to the US auto industry on track this year to deliver 15.4 million vehicles, the most since 16.15 million were delivered in 2007.
Consider another important figure: Bloomberg says that more than 90 percent of GM dealerships are profitable, compared to about half of them in 2008 and 2009. At the start of 2013, GM had 4,355 US dealerships and Chrysler had about 2,600. Compare that with just a few years ago, when GM had 6,246 dealers in 2008, while Chrysler had 3,200 in 2009.
As part of their bankruptcy restructuring, both GM and Chrysler decided that their retail networks contained far too many dealerships and insisted that they be slimmed down. The resultant dealership terminations followed by a rebounding auto market - in part due to better new GM and Chrysler vehicles - have increased the number of sales per dealership to record levels. Many dealers are taking advantage of increasing profits and investing in facility renovations and updates, such as Chrysler dealership owner David Kelleher. He's spending $2 million to expand his store.

Chrysler IPO to be filed as early as this week

An initial public offering for the Chrysler Group could happen this week, following Sergio Marchionne's comments to Financial Times in London, according to a report from The Detroit News. Fiat, which owns 58.5 percent of Chrysler, has been in a battle with the UAW retiree healthcare trust over its minority stake in the company. While the automotive union recognizes its role as a temporary shareholder, the two couldn't come to an agreement on how the shares should be priced.
As Marchionne explained to FT, a Chrysler IPO allows the market, rather than the two competing sides, to determine the value of the shares. The public offering is a risky move, which could potentially hang one side out to dry - if the shares go high, it's bad news for Fiat, but if they go low, the UAW stands to lose. Regardless of where the stock prices go in an IPO, though, it's a move that's being supported by analysts, who are quick to cite Chrysler's near-constant growth and a product lineup that is getting healthier with each new introduction.