Chrysler Group

The U.S. Treasury Department says Chrysler Financial will go out of business by the end of 2011, costing the Detroit area thousands more jobs. The automaker's former financial arm is in the process of shifting much of its loan business to GMAC under orders from the government. GMAC is becoming the preferred lender for both General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group.

Consumer Reports car reviewers gave high marks to the latest version of the Chrysler 300, putting it near the top of the class for large sedans with V6 engines. Positive reviews and new models have helped Chrysler Group, traditionally seen as the weakest of the three major U.S. automakers, grow rapidly this year. Through the end of July, Chrysler sales have risen 28% to almost 1 million vehicles. Its share of the U.S. market has grown to 11.4% from 10.2% during the first seven months of the year.

General Motors Corp. is in discussions with Chrysler Group on an alliance to share the costs of designing and developing vehicles, people with knowledge of the talks said Thursday. The discussions, which began about a month ago, may allow the two automakers to share chassis designs and reduce development costs, said the people, who asked not to be identified. The talks include possible cooperation on a large sport utility vehicle, one of the people said.

They look like souped-up golf carts and are often seen as an environmentally friendly way to get around the neighborhood or go grocery shopping. But they could also be death traps, according to a prominent safety watchdog group. So-called low-speed or neighborhood electric vehicles made by Chrysler Group and another manufacturer badly failed a series of crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which on Thursday is planning to call for greater federal safety oversight.

As Chrysler Group sales sag and its big pickups and V-8powered cars and sport utility vehicles pile up on dealers' lots, the company's U.S. sales chief has decided to depart. The automaker, the U.S. arm of DaimlerChrysler of Germany, said Tuesday that Joe Eberhardt, vice president of global sales and marketing, would leave to join a Mercedes-Benz dealership.

DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group said it would give two years of free gas to customers who buy a 2005 or 2006 vehicle before Jan. 3, after announcements of new discounts by rivals General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. Chrysler will also kick in two years of free scheduled maintenance and increase the warranty on mechanical parts to five years or 60,000 miles. Chrysler now offers a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty.

Chrysler Group announced measures to boost mileage for its cars and trucks. It said its new V-6 engines would be able to drop to three cylinders when less power was needed, raising fuel economy 6% to 8%. The Auburn Hills, Mich.-based company also plans to place its new two-mode hybrid powertrain in more vehicles, put a "clean" diesel engine in the 2009 Jeep Cherokee sport utility vehicle and alter its 5.7-liter Hemi and 4.7-liter V-8 engines for better gas mileage.

Auto and home lender GMAC Financial Services said Chief Executive Alvaro de Molina was stepping down. Michael A. Carpenter, a member of GMAC's board of directors, has been named his successor. De Molina's sudden resignation comes while the lender is in the midst of negotiating with the Treasury Department over additional taxpayer assistance. GMAC is instrumental to the operations of automakers General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group, but its finances have been haunted by bad loans it made in the housing boom.

Regarding "Auto merger at end of the road?" (Feb. 15): You gotta love these corporations and their priorities. After reading that Chrysler Group is going to kick 13,000 workers to the curb because the automaker lost $1.46 billion last year, one would fairly assume that money might be a little tight and the company might want to spend conservatively. And we'll keep dreaming. Opposite the continuation of the story is a full-page ad costing thousands of dollars from Chrysler's Dodge brand about "America's Hottest Products."