More production cuts may be on the way at Freightliner, as DaimlerChrysler blamed operating losses at Freightliner and Chrysler for for a first quarter operating loss of $3.4 billion.

Excluding substantial one-time charges at Chrysler and Mitsubishi, the company’s operating loss was $536 million, compared to a profit of $2.3 billion in first quarter 2000. Total revenues for the period were $32 billion, down 13% from a year earlier.
Sales in its Commercial Vehicles business dropped 12% to 119,300 units in the first quarter. Sales of Mercedes-Benz trucks totaled 26,200 units, about the same as last year. Declines in Germany and the effects of the financial crisis in Turkey were offset by generally positive results in Western and Eastern Europe, the company said.
Sales of Freightliner, Sterling and Thomas Built Buses were hit by the soft North American market where industry demand, noted the parent company, has dropped 50% since 1999.
Commercial Vehicle revenues for first quarter were $5.85 billion, down some 7% from a year ago. DaimlerChrysler said 10% gains in Europe were partially offset by a 31% drop in U.S. revenues. An operating loss of approximately $90 million "was due mainly to the negative results at Freightliner," it said.
In its earnings report DaimlerChrysler said the continued depressed North American truck market would likely mean more production cutbacks at Freightliner.