Sound the Chrysler Death Knell: Analysts

Chrysler’s lack of profitable vehicle lines will lead to its demise, reports the Detroit Free Press, regardless of whether the feds jump in with a bailout. With bad market conditions predicted to worsen next year, the struggling automaker will downshift its production on some lines and eliminate others, prompting bankruptcies and layoffs at suppliers.

“Can we see Chrysler as a viable entity for five or six years? I don’t think anybody thinks that,” says an auto industry analyst. Another predicts that as many as 100,000 jobs could be lost by 2011 as a quarter of suppliers liquidate or enter bankruptcy. The only upside? Reduced US production will bolster a down market for Chrysler's competitors.
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