DaimlerChrysler Credit Rating Raised based on North American Chrysler Division Profits

To be fair to DCX, the automaker's sizable investment into Chrysler is why the Auburn Hills company recently pulled in a

Unlike most domestics and many imports, Chrysler Group is enjoying a 3.3 percent sales increase for 2004. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

profit of $628 million for the second quarter of 2004 compared to the $1.1 billion loss it suffered during the same period last year.

Unlike most domestics and many imports, Chrysler Group is enjoying a 3.3 percent sales increase for 2004. Also unlike Ford and GM, all of Chrysler's profits are made up from the automotive vertical and not the automaker's financing division, DaimlerChrysler Services. Its domestic rivals were kept in the black solely on the strength of their financial arms, with much of the earnings achieved from housing mortgages.

Kevin Frazier, a spokesman for the Chrysler Group stated, "(The S&P rating) is

Also unlike its domestic competitors GM and Ford, Chrysler's declared profits are made up from the automotive vertical alone and not the automaker's financing division. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

recognition of our strength as an automotive business."

While positive news, the S&P ratings increase isn't the first of such credit boosts this year. As recently as June, two credit-rating agencies showed bullish projections for DaimlerChrysler, as reported in the Detroit News. Moody's Investors Service has strengthened its outlook from negative to stable, and Fitch Ratings modified its outlook from stable to positive. Both ratings agencies saw the positive progress at Chrysler Group as well as the automaker's commercial vehicles division as the reasons behind the improved ratings.