Although the U.S. truck market this year will likely fall below earlier expectations, DaimlerChrysler says no more major cuts are anticipated for Freightliner.
The truck manufacturer has slashed jobs and closed three plants in the U.S. and Canada.
Eckhard Cordes, who heads DaimlerChrysler’s commercial vehicles group, recently told Reuters news service that they expect U.S. sales of medium and heavy duty trucks to be about 150,000 units in 2002 -- down 20,000 units from earlier forecasts. Nevertheless, they still expect Freightliner to reach break-even sometime this year. Last October Freightliner unveiled a turnaround plan based on its earlier forecast of its sales in North American for this year.
DaimlerChrysler will present details of its 2001 financial results on Feb. 20. Key figures released so far include group revenues of 153 billion euros ($136 billion) and a group operating profit, before one-time charges, of 1.3 billion euros ($1.2 billion). After adjustments for non-recurring expenses, including restructuring costs for Freightliner and Chrysler, the group had a net loss of 662 million euros ($589 million). This compares to group revenues of 162 billion euros in 2000 and a net profit of 7.8 million euros.

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