Are the Detroit big three at last starting to get realistic about the long-term level of car sales in their home market?
Having pumped up light vehicle sales volumes to a peak of about 17m units a year with cheap credit, they have been hoping against hope to bounce back quickly from sales of about 11m in 2009.
Well, scratch that. Chrysler’s new restructuring plan, published this afternoon, now says it expects sales only to recover to 11.1m in 2011 and 11.6m in 2012. The 2012 figure is 2.1m below the estimate it made in December, wiping $18bn off its revenue projections over the next four years.
That is why it has increased its loan request to the US government by $2bn and plans to cut 3,000 more jobs this year.
It at least reflects an admission of reality about US sales, and the degree to which they relied on cheap credit which is unlikely to return for a long time.
