Chrysler finishes '95 with strong profit surge

It's not quite the average $8,000 windfall they got last year, but Chrysler Corp.'s 72,700 U.S. hourly workers will receive an average profit-sharing check of $3,200 Feb. 16, based on the company's $2 billion profit for 1995. And Chrysler's 27,000 salaried troops stand to get even more, although a company spokesman declined to disclose the average white-collar payment. Meanwhile, the folks from Auburn Hills are positioned for a strong start to '96 because they are planning to build 20% more vehicles than they did in the first three months of '95. Ford Motor Co.'s profit sharing is expected to be between $1,200 and $1,500, or about one-third last year's average of $4,000. General Motors Corp. will be in the same range as Ford. But Wall Street's projections for GM and Ford are cooling considerably. Salomon Brothers' Jack Kirnan dropped his '96 estimate for GM from $7.25 to $5 per share, and downgraded it from "buy" to "hold." Ford still has a bumpy road through the first half, but Chairman Alex Trotman tells analysts profits will recover robustly in the second half after the '97 F-series pickup, Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer are in full production.