Auto sales bounce back-Chrysler's big uphill climb

Experts question whether Fiat's rescue plan for Chrysler will provide needed help quickly enough to save the company.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Fiat Group will soon unveil its plans to help get the struggling Chrysler Group back on track. But the question that won't be answered is whether these changes will come in time to save the company.

The Chrysler Sebring, one of the car models that could be phased out under Chrysler's new turnaround plan.

The Italian automaker, which now owns a controlling minority stake in Chrysler, is expected to announce Wednesday which Fiat models it intends to make available in the U.S. It also will disclose which Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep vehicles will be phased out.For the sake of Fiat, as well as the union trust funds and U.S. taxpayers who own most of the rest of the company, the plan had better work.

But experts say that unlike rival Ford Motor F, Fortune 500, which reported a surprise profit of nearly $1 billion the third quarter, Chrysler has a relatively empty product pipeline for the next two years. That, coupled with slim cash resources, make a return to profitability for Chrysler very unlikely.

"Unfortunately, it's a race against time," said Michael Robinet, vice president of global vehicle forecasts for auto consultant CSM Worldwide. "I think what they're announcing is a starting point, but many more changes will be required going forward."Chrysler was king of the hill with its 300 series just a few years ago. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Pickup Sales Fall in Another Blow to Automakers

PONTIAC, Mich. — The closing of a big General Motors truck plant this week is another sign that America’s love affair with pickup trucks is fading fast.

Ken Robinson, 61, will retire when the pickup plant closes.

Sales of pickups have declined sharply this year, more than the drop in overall vehicle sales, which are at their lowest in 25 years.In 2004, for example, auto companies sold nearly 2.5 million pickups in the United States, many of which were used as everyday transportation, not just as work trucks or to haul trailers.This year, the industry likely will sell only about a million trucks.

The downturn in pickup sales is putting new pressure on the finances of automakers, which for years earned significant profit from trucks. In Pontiac, G.M. is shutting down the 3.4-million-square-foot truck plant that has been a fixture for 37 years in this industrial city about 20 miles north of Detroit.Some of the production will be handled by a third shift at an assembly plant in Indiana. For the 1,100 workers who will lose their jobs in Pontiac, the closing represents the end of an era when G.M. could not build gas-guzzling pickups fast enough to meet consumer demand.

Garey Knop, a pipefitter at the Pontiac plant for the last 12 years, said high gasoline prices hurt pickup sales. “I drive 110 miles a day and I wouldn’t drive one of these trucks,” he said.

One worker, Garey Knop, said that rising gas prices last year and the weak economy combined to kill the pickup boom. “Four-dollar gas put the nail into it,” said Mr. Knop, a pipefitter who has worked at the Pontiac plant the last 12 years. “I drive 110 miles a day, and I wouldn’t drive one of these trucks.” Both the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler have also closed pickup plants in recent years in an effort to bring production more in line with demand.