We’re beginning to think that the offices of Chrysler charge by the hour, by the amount of foot traffic it gets. The company seems to be so good at something that it keeps getting traded like ummm… a seasoned veteran of automotive bliss.

The latest scoop is that General Motors is in talks with Cerberus to “trade” Chrysler’s automotive operation for the remaining 49% stake GMAC Cerberus did not buy previously.

Seems that Nardelli’s military style worked wonders in a Home Depot merchant style environment, but did absolutely nothing for the auto industry.

Chrysler had the largest drop in sales in the previous year with 25% of it’s sales disappearing. Cerberus does not make it’s books public, but industry analysts estimate Chrysler lost in the neighbourhood of $1.5-1.7 billion this past year.

The amount is staggering, but is not significant compared to the losses that General Motors have been experiencing as of late.

Chrysler promises new models for 2010 and 2011, but information on upcoming models have been scarce. General Motors has seen it’s stock price erode in the past week or so, with the recent downgrades to near junk status.

It will be interesting to see what happens and what role the federal government plays in all of this, as both Ford and General Motors will most likely run out of operational funding sometime next year.

Could there be another bailout on the way? What part is the $25 billion recently awarded to the auto companies play in all of this?

These are questions that will have to be answered really soon, as J.D. Power has announced that the auto sector will tank in 2009. What a suprise.

In the meantime, enjoy your GM and Ford stock hit all time lows, and thank you for buying American.

Ford Motor Company announced late Thursday, they were issuing $500 million in new stock. Ford will use the money to buy bonds in Ford Credit.

Ford spokesman Bill Collins in New York confirmed the deal, which has taken place a couple of times already this year, when the company swaps debt for equity. So far the total for the year not including this transaction stands at $927 million.

The move solidifies the companies balance sheets, whereas less debt is better.

Ford Motor Company lost $1.28 Billion in operations in it’s second quarter, making waves in the stock markets today.

Ford took a write down on $8 billion to write off asset values, as it plans to re-organize and begin operation in the 3^rd quarter.

The majority of the losses came as a result of a downturn in sales of it’s North American truck operations. Ford’s truck operations provided high margins and stable growth. Unfortunately $4 a gallon gas prices did in the F-150 the best selling vehicle for the past 20 years.

Ford plans to bring over 6 small vehicles from Europe, as well as re-tool several truck plants to manufacture smaller vehicles beginning in December.

Ford plans to re-invent it’s Mercury lineup by the end of 2010. With no new product, the brand has been in limbo and has been seen as a brand Ford might do away with.

Ford also announced it is not closing it’s Ranger plant until 2011 and plans to double production of 4 cylinder engines by 2010. It also plans to double production of hybrid vehicles by 2011.

Ford CEO Don Leclair confirmed this has been the worst quarter in the companies history and they are not sure when the company will return to profitability.

Ford has about $38 billion in cash and available credit lines, which suggests that the company will not go under for some considerable time to come.