Chrysler sees its US retail sales stabilizing

LAS VEGAS, Oct 11 (Reuters) Chrysler LLC is targeting a U.S. retail market share of 11 percent this year as it reduces its inventory of unsold vehicles, executives said.

Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press, who joined the No. 3 U.S.

automaker in August, said yesterday Chrysler's efforts to weed out an overlap in similar models should be evident by next year.

Chrysler's sales have fallen 3 percent in the year to September, in line with a slump in the broad market.

Chrysler's North American sales chief Steve Landry said the company had maintained a retail market share of 10.7 percent on a year-to-date basis and expected to see that reach 11 percent in the fourth quarter.

Landry said Chrysler would reduce its inventory by 100,000 vehicles on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter. Press said he wanted to see further reductions in 2008.

Both executives were speaking at an event for Chrysler dealers in Las Vegas on the same day that the automaker clinched a new labor deal with its major union.

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