Correction Appended

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.

DAIMLERCHRYSLER always seems to outdo itself at the Detroit auto show, and this year was no exception. The company showcased celebrities like the chef Bobby Flay, and then generated a fresh round of buzz via an artificial ice rink (its surface carefully scuffed to keep visitors from slipping) that it built to show off its legendary Mercedes-Benz line.

For DaimlerChrysler itself, however, the corporate mood was just as cold as the ice. Although the German auto giant’s chief executive, Dieter Zetsche, shook hands warmly with each of about two dozen journalists who came to a press briefing at last month’s car fest, he grew unusually frosty when asked about the future of Chrysler, its struggling American brand. “We are in recovery mode again,” he acknowledged.

Less than six weeks later, on Valentine’s Day, Mr. Zetsche announced that DaimlerChrysler was keeping all options open as it tries to tackle its Chrysler problems. At least one of those options involves a possible sale: the company recently retained JPMorgan Chase to scout for a buyer willing to take Chrysler off its hands, most likely at a bargain-basement price. Suddenly, it seems like 1979 all over again: Chrysler is in crisis, with sales falling, costs rising and cars piling up on dealer lots. But this time, there is one big difference: No one is talking about a government-financed bailout to give Chrysler another chance – in part because it is no longer an American icon.

Chrysler is not “too big to fail,” as it was described then, its tens of thousands of well-paying union jobs too vital to lose. It is now a vestigial part of a sector of the economy – manufacturing – that does not loom as large in the nation’s consciousness. “It is a new world,” said Ron Pinelli, the president of Autodata in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., which tracks industry statistics. “If Chrysler disappeared, would anyone’s life change, except for the people that work for the company?”

Chrysler’s rebound from its near-death experience of the late ’70s is the stuff of legend. It survived back then by closing plants and persuading its remaining workers to accept pay cuts, among other things; then it repaid the government aid, with interest, well ahead of schedule. As recently as two years ago, the company was the money-spinning master of hot cars like the 300C and the PT Cruiser.

But now, Chrysler is fighting for its survival again, a situation that lays bare the failure of previous generations of managers to resolve, or even fully address, its many fundamental problems. Rather than using crises as opportunities to remake Chrysler in the model of its Japanese competitors, say analysts conversant with the company’s trajectory, a revolving cast of corporate stewards repeatedly relied on silver bullets to revive the automaker. Over and over, they introduced a single hot-selling model here or tightened the screws on suppliers there, instead of doing the tougher work that real transformation required.

Many in Detroit say they feel as if they have been sucker-punched. Overnight, Mr. Zetsche has gone from the jovial “Dr. Z,” who gamely starred in several hokey television commercials last summer in an effort to bolster Chrysler’s sales, to someone whom some employees regard as a symbol of betrayal by their German parent.

“It really did seem as if it came out of nowhere,” said Kevin Boyle, a history professor at Ohio State University who was raised in Detroit and has written extensively about the auto industry. “People thought that this was the trade-off: they would give up being a hometown company for the security that the takeover was going to bring.

“It was absolutely a false sense of security,” he added. “But you see what you want to see.”

EVEN if the public spectacle of the last 10 days – Is Chrysler for sale? Who wants it? Who is a serious suitor and who is just flirting? – has been nothing more than an exercise in determining the company’s value on the open market, analysts say it is abundantly clear that the powers in Stuttgart have no special sentiment for Chrysler. Mr. Zetsche is already struggling with sagging popularity in Germany. A number of officials inside DaimlerChrysler blame him for failing to fix Chrysler when he served as its chief executive from 2000 to 2005, say people who advise the automaker but didn’t want to be named because of their ties to the company.

In particular, some of these officials have questioned why Mr. Zetsche allowed the company to keep developing big gas-guzzling S.U.V.’s and pickups when it became clear that gas prices were headed higher. Moreover, he left Chrysler in a virtual product drought for the better part of last year, after the company had gained sales and market share during 2005.

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Correction: March 4, 2007

An article last Sunday about the problems facing the Chrysler Group misidentified a celebrity who performed at a company party during the Detroit auto show in January. It was Emmitt Smith, the “Dancing With the Stars” winner and former football star – not the pop singer Seal, who performed at a different event.

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TESTED: Chrysler Aspen

WHAT IS IT? Full-size S.U.V.

HOW MUCH? Base model $30,745. As tested $41,870 including a $5,415 quick-order package (with Hemi engine and popular features); $1,595 navigation system; $1,200 rear seat entertainment system; $875 leather trimmed seats; $745 shipping charge.

WHAT DRIVES IT? Base engine is 4.7-liter V-8 (235 horsepower); upgraded engine is 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 (335 horsepower).

IS IT SAFE? Chrysler says the Aspen has the “highest level of standard safety equipment” among full-size S.U.V.’s. Standard side-curtain air bags protect all three rows of seats (though there are no seat-mounted side bags). Also standard are antilock brakes, traction and stability controls and rollover-prevention sensors.

HOW THIRSTY? E.P.A. rating is 14 miles a gallon in town, 19 on the highway, with base engine and rear-wheel drive; 15/20 with Hemi. Optional four-wheel drive knocks 1 m.p.g. off each rating.

ALTERNATIVES: Toyota Sequoia SR5 $36,645; Ford Expedition XLT $32,075; GMC Yukon SLE $38,165.

THE 2007 Chrysler Aspen is a perfectly nice vehicle with perfectly awful timing.

Yes, it’s got a Hemi in it – at least, it can have one if you so choose – but notwithstanding the pre-election dip in gasoline prices, powerful and thirsty S.U.V.’s have become about as popular as lobbyists. You don’t see commercials promoting the Hemi anymore, do you?

The ads that you do see are for liquidation sales on gas-swilling behemoths like these. Unsold Chrysler S.U.V.s are piling up in storage lots faster than unsold Beanie Babies. In a different place in time, Chrysler’s first full-size S.U.V. might have been a potential game-changer.

That’s because it has all the features that lovers of big S.U.V.’s like, and at a reasonable price.

With the Aspen, Chrysler has brought to market the luxury that Lincoln promised but often failed to deliver: class-above interiors, refined performance and luxurious utility. The Aspen that I tested – a top-line Limited with about $10,000 of options piled on its $30,745 base price – had brushed satin-nickel interior trim, pleasingly light-colored leather and rich accents that looked like wood even though they were hewn from a polypropylene forest.

From what I can tell, the people who have bought this vehicle – there haven’t been many so far – seem happy. They rave about the ride, the handling and the luxuriant feel.

Though built on the same platform as the Dodge Durango, the Aspen looks more upscale. It is being marketed as a luxury S.U.V., as opposed to the Durango’s utilitarian image.

But the Aspen can haul a lot of stuff; it has a generous payload and the greatest towing capacity among full-size S.U.V.’s. What it won’t handle particularly well is bulky stuff; its cargo area is one of the class’s smallest. The second- and available third-row seats fold flat enough to accommodate the proverbial 4-by-8 sheet of plywood. But the folded seats take up lot of room; other Chrysler products handle this chore with more panache.

The base engine is a 235-horsepower 4.7-liter V-8, which would make a dandy boat anchor. Like a bad brother-in-law, it consumes more and produces less. The Hemi makes 100 more horsepower, outperforms the 4.7 by every measure and is more economical – it shuts down half the cylinders at cruising speeds. Since the Hemi costs less than $1,000 extra, ordering one is a no-brainer. If you get only one option, let it be this.

The Aspen has other shortcomings, too; its standard antilock brakes could stop with more authority. The window in the rear liftgate cannot be opened. The Durango has a much better stereo. The air-conditioning system lacks the dual-zone controls common in many vehicles priced thousands less.

The Aspen’s worst fault, though, is its lateness. Even the president of the Chrysler Group, Tom LaSorda, concedes that the S.U.V. should have come to market at least a year ago.

And therein lies the problem. As the newest entry in a once-hot class, the Aspen has arrived so late to the party that the food is all gone and the floors are being swept.

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DETROIT, Oct. 19 – The Chrysler Group, facing a steep third-quarter loss, is pushing to cut at least $1,000 a vehicle from its costs in an effort to return to profitability as soon as possible, officials at the company said Thursday night.

The program, called “Project Refocus,” comes as Chrysler is expected to post a $1.5 billion loss for the third quarter when it reports results next week, snapping a string of 12 profitable quarters. Chrysler, a unit of DaimlerChrysler, is also expected to lose money for the full year.

As part of its effort to save $1,000 a vehicle, Chrysler’s teams are examining how they can eliminate fixed costs, trim capital spending and find more savings within manufacturing, purchasing and other operations.

If Chrysler could reach its $1,000-a-vehicle goal, the company could save as much as $2 billion, given that it will sell about 2 million vehicles this year. But officials cautioned that the automaker had not yet calculated a figure for total savings.

For one thing, it will be more difficult to save that much on small cars, like the Dodge Caliber, as well as on vehicles it has just introduced, like the Jeep Compass and Patriot.

Generally, it is easier for auto companies to find savings as they are developing new cars and trucks, not once they have gone on sale. Nonetheless, Chrysler is looking at all of its models in hopes of reducing costs, a Chrysler spokesman, Jason Vines, said Thursday night.

The cost-savings program began in July, soon after DaimlerChrysler officials warned that the company would lose money during the third quarter and for 2006. The effort marks Chrysler’s second major revamping this decade, and comes six years after an extensive cost-cutting drive in 2000.

Chrysler managers have recently received help from other executives within DaimlerChrysler, including Rainer Schmuckle, the chief operating officer of the Mercedes Group, which has conducted its own cost-cutting effort during the last year.

Mr. Schmuckle recently held two days of meetings with Chrysler officials and plans to return to Chrysler’s headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., later this fall.

“We set these teams up and we supplemented them in September with some of the experts within DaimlerChrysler ? people who have been through it and know how to do it,” Mr. Vines said. “It’s a global company.”

Chrysler and Mercedes officials have shared ideas since shortly after Daimler-Benz merged with Chrysler in 1998. But Mr. Vines and other officials stressed that the teams were being directed by Chrysler managers, and reported to Chrysler’s chief executive, Thomas W. LaSorda.

Chrysler, which was the only Detroit-based company to see its market share increase in 2005, has lost both sales and market share this year, when gasoline prices spiked and customers turned away from the big sport utilities and pickups that dominate Chrysler’s lineup.

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ARE there plug-in hybrid vehicles in America?s future? Such hybrids could travel 10 to 20 additional miles on battery power alone, but until recently automakers have said ? more or less unanimously ? that it was not practical to add a larger battery pack and plug-in chargers to hybrid vehicles because of the added weight, complexity and cost.

The public is already confused about hybrids, they say, with many people still believing that these cars (whose batteries are charged by their internal-combustion engines) need to be plugged in. So now hybrids really will have a power cord?

Maybe, says DaimlerChrysler. The company recently showed in New York the first vehicle in its small test fleet of Dodge Sprinter delivery vans with plug-in-hybrid powertrains. The Sprinters can drive 20 miles on batteries alone, powered by a 70-kilowatt electric motor. The three Sprinters currently in the United States (built in Germany with either diesel or gasoline engines) are the vanguard concept vehicles in a four-truck fleet; another three dozen will enter service around the world.

This does not necessarily mean that DaimlerChrysler will make plug-in production Sprinters for sale, but the company appears to be warming to the concept.

Other companies are mulling the idea, too. Ford Motor?s chairman, William Clay Ford Jr., said in May that his company was “keenly looking at” the technology. At Toyota, Dave Hermance, executive engineer for advanced technology vehicles, confirmed that the company has started a research and development program for plug-ins. “But we believe the batteries are not ready for production,” he added.

According to a Bloomberg News report in June, General Motors is also developing a plug-in hybrid. Even Google.org, a charitable for-profit company set up by the popular search engine provider, said it would create its own plug-in system.

A June report by AllianceBernstein, an investment management firm in New York, entitled “The Emergence of Hybrid Vehicles,” concluded that “Plug-in hybrid vehicles are likely to arrive as an extension of current hybrid technology.” The fuel-efficiency gains, the report said, “would be enormous for those people who typically drive only short distances each day.”

Plug-ins, like all hybrids, excel in stop-and-go duty. And their ability to make those runs on batteries alone makes them ideal for the delivery tasks envisioned for the Sprinter project.

The Electric Power Research Institute, a trade association for utilities, estimates that a plug-in hybrid would consume 2,000 to 2,500 kilowatt-hours of grid electricity annually. So wouldn?t vehicles like the plug-in hybrid Sprinter simply transfer their pollution source from the tailpipe to the smokestack of a coal-burning power plant?

That depends on the source of electric power, according to a report released last month by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit energy policy group. The council concluded that a plug-in version of the Toyota Prius could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a third compared with today?s Prius hybrid, but only if its batteries were charged with California electricity ? generated mainly from relatively clean sources.

“One of the key determinants is whether the electricity is generated using coal,” Jim Kliesch, a co-author of the report, said in an interview. The report says that in a part of the Midwest dominated by coal-burning power plants, a plug-in Prius would generate 1 percent more carbon dioxide. “Our position is that overselling plug-ins to policy makers or to John Q. Public has the potential of causing disenchantment with the technology,” Mr. Kliesch said.

But the plug-in concept has long been championed by environmentalists and green-minded entrepreneurs, some of whom have added battery packs and chargers to existing hybrids like the Prius and the Ford Escape. On short commuting runs, these cars wouldn?t need to start their gasoline engines, allowing their champions to claim very high potential economy figures. But some homemade plug-in hybrids have had problems adapting to the software of the cars? sophisticated on-board computers.

“This DaimlerChrysler introduction is the beginning of the automakers? fulfilling our dreams,” said Felix Kramer, a founder of CalCars.org, which has championed plug-in hybrids and helped build prototypes. “It?s very encouraging.”

The van of dreams is a conventional-looking Sprinter, familiar to Americans as a tall Dodge or Freightliner utility vehicle used as a passenger bus and, without rear seats, as a delivery truck. In Europe, it is badged as a Mercedes-Benz. Departures from factory specifications include a plug-in recharging port on the right side of the van?s nose, a small switch on the dashboard that shifts the vehicle into electric-only mode and a 350-pound, 14-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack peeking out from under the flat floor. And, of course, Hybrid Sprinter lettering on its flanks.

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DETROIT, Sept. 19 ? Maybe Chrysler is not so different after all.

After Daimler-Benz merged with Chrysler in 1998, Chrysler vowed to break away from its troubled Detroit brethren and join ranks with the Japanese automakers. It designed innovative vehicles like the gutsy 300C sedan and the spunky PT Cruiser, gambling that an emphasis on bold design, better quality and German engineering would set it apart from the Big Two.

“There were a lot of people that thought Chrysler was really home free,” said David E. Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

But in recent days, a series of stunning announcements have signaled that Chrysler, despite all those efforts, has not been able to escape many of the same problems bedeviling General Motors and the Ford Motor Company.

On Tuesday, Chrysler said it would cut its production schedule for the rest of the year by 16 percent because of slumping sales as a result of high gas prices. That comes on the heels of similar cuts at G.M. and Ford, which are both trying to restructure after billions of dollars in losses in the last year.

Chrysler, which lately has ranked fourth behind G.M., Ford and Toyota Motor in American sales, reiterated that it expected a $1.26 billion loss this year, when it had planned to break even.

As a result, Chrysler said it would embark on what was likely to be its second major revamping since 2000, and acknowledged that its market share could shrink further, potentially dropping it to fifth place behind Honda in the United States.

Chrysler workers, whose profit-sharing checks the last few years were proof that they worked for Detroit?s most successful company, now find themselves vulnerable like their counterparts at G.M. and Ford.

Analysts have said all year that Chrysler, the only Detroit automaker to gain market share last year, was faltering. But Chrysler executives maintained that a strong second half, when it is introducing a volley of new vehicles, would lift its fortunes.

That has not proved to be the case. During a briefing Tuesday with industry analysts, Chrysler said it would cut third-quarter production by 90,000 vehicles, double its original plan.

Chrysler, which depends more heavily on sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans than any other Detroit carmaker, said it would also cut another 45,000 vehicles from its production plans in the fourth quarter.

Over all, Chrysler said it planned to build 705,000 cars and trucks during the second half of the year, or 16 percent fewer than its original second-half projection.

“We have to clearly dig deeper into the top of Chrysler to make sure we further can accelerate the process of increased competitiveness,” said Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of DaimlerChrysler, who ran Chrysler from 2000 until last year.

His replacement at Chrysler, Thomas W. LaSorda, signaled that the automaker would embark on its second reorganization in six years, vowing to “turn over all the rocks” at Chrysler to determine the right cost structure for the auto company.

Mr. LaSorda, speaking in a conference call with analysts and journalists, said that it was premature to discuss plant closings and that Chrysler needed to keep open “the majority” of its plants.

But he said the company was facing sharply higher costs for raw materials and parts, up as much as 60 percent this year in some cases. He said Chrysler needed to act as soon as possible.

In the presentation to analysts, Chrysler forecast that its share of the American car market would be 10.6 percent in the third quarter, down from its original plan to hold 11.2 percent. That puts it in fourth place, behind G.M., Ford and Toyota and just slightly ahead of Honda.

But in July, Honda outsold Chrysler, bumping it down to fifth place in the American market. Honda recently announced plans to build a new factory in Indiana, raising the likelihood that it could overtake Chrysler permanently.

Unlike its major Japanese rivals and G.M., Chrysler had no subcompact cars in its lineup when gas prices hit $3 a gallon, even though DaimlerChrysler sells them overseas.

Despite its vow that it would build only vehicles that customers wanted, it allowed unsold sport utility vehicles to pile up on vacant lots all over metropolitan Detroit.

Even though its cordial relationship with the United Automobile Workers union allowed Chrysler to set the industry pattern for contract talks, it has not been able to reach a deal to cut health care costs like the ones G.M. and Ford worked out with the U.A.W.

The reversal of fortunes at Chrysler was a disappointment to many in the auto industry who thought Chrysler might have hit on a magic formula that other Detroit companies could follow.

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TOLEDO, Ohio, Aug. 28 ? The Chrysler Group, which depends more heavily on sales of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles than any other Detroit automaker, said Monday that it expected gasoline prices to remain at $3 to $4 a gallon for the rest of this decade.

The comments by Thomas W. LaSorda, Chrysler?s chief executive, are the first time a Detroit automaker has issued a specific forecast on gas prices since they began climbing to $3 a gallon and higher.

Ford?s chief sales analyst agreed Monday that high gas prices were not a temporary phenomenon, although he did not cite a price range. The analyst, George Pipas, said the auto company expected gas prices to remain high, volatile and unpredictable.

Together, the comments signal a recognition that the two automakers may have to fundamentally change their product mix to put more emphasis on fuel-efficient vehicles ? a move General Motors says it already is making.

Mr. LaSorda, who had traveled here for the start of production of a four-door version of the Jeep Wrangler, was asked whether gasoline prices had peaked. ?I would hope so,?? he replied, ?but we?re planning internally as if it is $3 to $4 a gallon.?

Mr. LaSorda said Chrysler had prepared a business model based on the assumption that gas prices would remain in that range for the next three to four years. That is about the period of time it takes for an automaker to develop a new vehicle.

?We are looking at it as if it?s going to be much higher, rather than hoping it comes down,? Mr. LaSorda said. He added, ?Hopefully we can fight back.?

If Chrysler?s assumptions are correct, it spells more trouble in the near term for the traditional Detroit companies, whose sales and market share have dropped this year as consumers have shifted away from big vehicles to more fuel-efficient models.

About 75 percent of the vehicles that Chrysler sells are pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans, compared with about two-thirds of the sales by the Ford Motor Company and about 60 percent of the vehicles sold by General Motors, according to the industry statistics firm Autodata.

By contrast, the lineups at Toyota, Honda and Nissan are still more than 50 percent cars, one reason Japanese auto companies have achieved sales records this year.

Although Chrysler plans to introduce more fuel-efficient vehicles in coming months, it may face a struggle to lessen its dependence on sport utility vehicles and pickups. Indeed, Mr. LaSorda said that Chrysler believed there would still be a market for vehicles that seat five or six passengers.

Given the long lead time auto companies require to develop new vehicles, “I don?t know if they will be able to come out with new products that quickly,? said Jesse Toprak, a senior analyst with Edmunds.com, a Web site that offers car-buying advice.

Last month, Chrysler?s share of the American market dropped to just 10 percent, compared with 13.3 percent in July 2005. Chrysler fell to fifth place in July, behind G.M., Toyota, Ford and Honda.

Chrysler is not the only company feeling the pinch of higher gasoline prices. Industrywide, pickup truck sales have dropped about 17 percent this year, while sales of sport utility vehicles are down about 9 percent. Car sales, by contrast, are up 3 percent, according to an Edmunds estimate.

Mr. Toprak said none of the Detroit auto companies thought high gasoline prices would hurt sales so much. ?They saw it as a temporary phenomenon,? Mr. Toprak said.

Gasoline prices have dropped about 15 cents the last two weeks, to a national average of $2.78 for unleaded fuel, according to the Lundberg Survey. That has led some analysts to predict that prices have peaked for the year, since gasoline is generally cheaper in the fall than during the summer vacation season.

Asked about gasoline prices, Mr. Pipas, of Ford, said, ?We don?t see the price of gasoline returning to the levels that we all enjoyed in the 90?s and the early part of this decade.?

He went on, ?The base case assumption around which we?re planning our business is that gas prices remain high. The days of inexpensive gasoline are gone.?

Mr. Pipas declined to be specific about how high gas prices may rise. ?I think only a fool would forecast gas prices,? he said.

G.M. forecasts prices internally but does not disclose the figure, said a spokesman, John M. McDonald.

G.M. has been promoting the fuel efficiency of its car lineup, saying it offers more models that get 30 miles per gallon in highway driving than any other company. Through July, those vehicles accounted for about 34 percent of G.M.?s overall sales for 2006, according to an estimate by Edmunds.

Mr. McDonald said G.M. was paying more attention to the fluctuations in gasoline prices, rather than the level itself. ?It?s the fluctuation that makes people nervous,? he added.

Officials at Toyota and Honda, which have both gained market share this year because of their reputation for fuel efficiency, said they were prepared for a sustained period of high gasoline prices.

?We don?t anticipate that gas prices are going to drop significantly,? said Chuck Schifsky, a Honda spokesman. He added, ?We?ve known for a long time that this was coming, and it?s liable to get worse before it gets any better.?

Mr. Toprak at Edmunds said automakers were rattled by the prospect of another hurricane like Katrina, which sent gas prices soaring a year ago. ?Who knows what is going to happen? It could make a worse-case scenario even worse,? Mr. Toprak said.

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DaimlerChrysler sold 1.15 million vehicles worldwide in the first quarter of 2006, surpassing the figure for 2005 by 6%. As a result of the positive development of unit sales, the group?s total revenues increased by 17% to E37.2 billion.

The company’s operating profits however were largely offset by charges related to the discontinuation of the smart forfour model and the realignment of the smart business model bringing charges of E982 million and E800 million respectively.

It was also impacted by the continuing travails at its Mercedes division which registered an operating loss of E678 million, though overall revenues for the first quarter were up by 19%.

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