Nardelli says Chrysler Financial needs second round of loans

In an interview with CNBC today, Chrysler’s CEO Bob Nardelli said the company’s financial arm needs a second round of loans to accelerate sales to customers who cannot qualify for loans.

Nardelli said that the $1.5 billion loan made to Chrysler Financial in January helped stabalize February sales and helped the automaker offer 0 percent loans on new vehicles. Chrysler sales were down 49 percent through February when compared to the same period a year ago.

“We”ve gone to Treasury and said we need to re-up that amount,” Nardelli said.

Nardelli also said that he would like to see “some kind of decision” from Obama’s auto task force by March 31 on the company’s request for an additional $5 billion loan to fund operations and product development. Chrysler is continuing to operate on $4 billion in federal loans.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit Free Press