Currently reading: Chrysler requests finance cash
Struggling car maker says it can improve sales 20 per cent if credit cash is made available

Chrysler has requested more money from the US government for its finance arm, saying that it can improve sales by 20 per cent if it can provide credit to buyers.

CEO Bob Nardelli made the request to the US Treasury, which originally lent $1.5 billion to Chrysler Financial in January. He has not specified how much more money Chrysler wants.

Figures show Chrysler Financial financed 29,000 deals in February, up from 8000 the previous month.

However, Chrysler sold just 84,050 vehicles in the US in February, the fourth month in a row that demand was down more than 40 per cent year-on-year.

Nardelli said that dealers had told him that there is '20 per cent pent-up demand' if they can just find credit for customers.

Chrysler is currently waiting to find out if it will receive $5 billion (£3.5 billion) in loans from the government to guarantee its survival.

However, Nardelli warned conditions would get worse before they get better.

"We haven't seen anything out there to suggest we have bottomed out," he said.

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