Chrysler Division May Layoff More Workers
DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: And speaking of job cuts, DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler unit in the U.S. may have to endure some more layoffs in the short term if it is to survive the long haul.</s>DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: As CNN's Detroit bureau chief Ed Garsten reports, DaimlerChrysler's chairman says he will not let Chrysler fall by the roadside.</s>ED GARSTEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite a disastrous year, where DaimlerChrysler's stock plummeted and the U.S.-based Chrysler division lost $512 million in the third quarter, the company's chairman said he's committed to turning it all around.</s>JUERGEN SCHREMPP, CHAIRMAN, DAIMLERCHRYSLER: I will not rest until this company, this American icon, is back where it belongs, at the top of the industry.</s>GARSTEN: But Jeurgen Schrempp told industry executives gathered at the Automotive Newsworld Congress that the turnaround won't be possible without pain, the pain of possible job losses.</s>SCHREMPP: We have to better balance production, volumes and pricing -- fourth, we have to adjust our cost structure.</s>GARSTEN: The company has already idled more than 20,000 assembly plant workers for a week or two at a time since December, in a series of rolling layoffs because of slow sales. But Schrempp is feeling the heat from impatient stockholders, who have seen the company's stock lose almost half its value in the last year. Still, he insists he won't be stampeded into divesting the company of Chrysler and that he has what he needs to turn the company around.</s>SCHREMPP: We have sufficient time and sufficient money to do so.</s>GARSTEN: Bill Vlasic, wrote the definitive book on the merger between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler says Schrempp just might pull it off.</s>BILL VLASIC, AUTHOR, "TAKEN FOR A RIDE": I wouldn't underestimate him, and I wouldn't underestimate the fact that Chrysler could turn around, maybe, in some ways, as quickly as it went down.</s>GARSTEN: Michigan Governor John Engler is counting on Schrempp's success.</s>GOV. JOHN ENGLER (R), MICHIGAN: We're going to fight for jobs here and investment.</s>GARSTEN (on camera): Juergen Schrempp will lay out his recovery plan for DaimlerChrysler in detail on February 26th, but it's clear to industry watchers that thousands of DaimlerChrysler workers may not be in those plans for the company's future. Ed Garsten, CNN, Detroit.