New York - AFP
US automaker Chrysler on Tuesday posted a net loss of $370 million for the second quarter as it took a hefty charge for repaying all of its US and Canadian government bailouts. Chrysler, which had posted a profit for the first time in five years for the first quarter, took a one-time charge of $551 million for paying back the rescues in May. Excluding that charge, Chrysler would have had adjusted net profit of $181 million, the company said in a statement. The number-three US automaker, 53.5 percent owned by Italian rival Fiat, reaffirmed its 2011 outlook, notably forecasting adjusted net profit between $200 million and $500 million. Chrysler said that sales in the April-June period jumped 30 percent from the same quarter in 2010, to $13.7 billion, as the company gained market share in the US and Canada. The group sold 514,000 vehicles in the quarter, a gain of 19 percent from a year ago, and the first time it topped 500,000 since June 2009, when it exited a US government-sponsored bankruptcy reorganization. \"There is no doubt that Chrysler Group has taken a huge step forward this quarter,\" Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Chrysler and Fiat, said in the statement. \"Refinancing our debt and repaying our government loans six years early reinforces our conviction that we are on the right path to rebuilding this company and restoring it to its rightful place on the global automotive landscape.\"