[Dave@Moon]

Originally Posted by Dave@Moon

For Fiat's plans to work Chrysler has to survive the next 2 years with essentially the exact same product mix it has now. With it's market share off 50% from a year ago, and the market itself off by almost the same amount, that may be a very long bet.

Today's sales figures for Oct. look even more grim for Chrysler. With GM sales up (for the first time in almost 2 year) 4.7% and Ford sales up 3.3% over last October, Chrysler Corp. sales were off 30%! There is no missing decimal point in that figure.

The only bigger loser that that was the tanking Smart car, dropping 70% from last year. However that's just one model from Mercedes-Benz, who's other sales were up 21.3%.

Bear in mind that sales were already miserable last October.

Overall sales were down slightly, Japanese headquartered companies' sales were roughly even, European sales were mixed, and Korean headquartered companies' sales were through the roof--up nearly 50% from last year.

GM, Ford help lift October car sales - MarketWatch

Crisis deepens for Chrysler MarketWatch First Take - MarketWatch (Be sure to watch embedded video.)

It's going to be very interesting to see what Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne has to say tomorrow.