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Chrysler Corp. reported total May sales of 70,814, up 19% over last year. To add more zip to sales, Chrysler's President Lester Lum Colbert made some drastic dealer shifts-and readied a new car. The company has known for some time that its dual system of De Soto-Plymouth and Dodge-Plymouth dealerships, has seriously hurt Plymouth sales, since the dealers were inclined to push the higher-priced cars on which they made more money. To correct this, the De Soto and Plymouth divisions were merged, with Plymouth to be top dog. Chrysler last week asked...
Only one major segment of the economy has yet to turn around: car sales. Last week President Lester Lum ("Tex") Colbert showed off Chrysler Corp.'s new line, predicted that the industry's calendar 1959 sales will rise to 5,500,000 or 6,000,000, well above calendar 1958's estimated 4,600,000. But even optimistic Tex Colbert felt that buyers are not yet as enthusiastic as the industry would like. Said he: "People still show some tendency to wait for further signs of recovery before taking on new obligations." To loosen consumer purse strings...
With his own sales down 33% (for Ford) and 65% (for Mercury), Ford President Henry Ford II showed stockholders a first-quarter ledger with earnings off 77% to $22.7 million. Chrysler Boss Lester Lum ("Tex") Colbert had to face up to a $15.1 million loss-the biggest ever-with sales down 53%. Only General Motors President Harlow H. Curtice has anything to crow about. Chevy has bumped Ford out of the No. 1 spot; G.M.'s overall first-quarter sales were off only 11.6%, its earnings down 29.1% to $185 million; G.M. cars, though down in volume, have captured...
...ailing auto industry, the Chrysler dividend was a casualty. President Lester Lum Colbert reported a first-quarter loss of $15,139,802, almost $2 a share, and reluctantly announced a cut in the dividend from 75? to 25? to conserve cash. Ford did much better, though its earnings dropped from $1.85 in the first quarter of last year to 42? in the first quarter of this year. Nevertheless, it will pay its next quarterly dividend...
...higher 1958 prices the trouble? The Senators heard Chrysler's President Lester Lum Colbert implicitly deny it. "Tex" Colbert insisted that automakers can still have a good year "as soon as we get over this psychological thing" of recession-minded customers. "Prices are only a part of competition," he said. "You just can't go along with supply and demand. You price over a long-range program." Chrysler tried smaller cars in 1953-54. They were shunned in favor of larger (and cheaper) models made by G.M. and Ford. Chrysler tried cutting prices...