The Auto Writer

When Daimler and Chrysler split their ways last year after nine years of a tumultuous relationship, newly minted Daimler AG retained 19.9% ownership in the new Chrysler LLC entity. The majority stake of 80.1% is controlled by Cerberus Capital Management, but it looks as if Daimler will soon sell off its minority interest in America’s #3 automaker.

According to published reports, Daimler wants to sell off its remaining shares, but with one caveat: they don’t want to lose additional money on the deal. Who can blame them?

Unlike last year’s sale where Daimler lost tens of billions of dollars on Chrysler (purchased for $37 billion, sold for just $7.4 billion), Daimler will likely get what they want, especially as the German automaker continues to provide sales support for Chrysler in Europe.

Chrysler remains a major drain on Daimler AG’s books, to the tune of costing the company $548 million in the second quarter of this year alone. Daimler’s shareholders were insistent that the two automakers divorce in the first place, especially when it became apparent that Chrysler was adversely impacting Mercedes.

For Cerberus, the company will have to pony up some serious cash to move Daimler away from Chrysler. To date, Chrysler’s sales are down by 25% and the company has lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Of the three major US automakers, Chrysler is seen by analysts as facing the biggest challenge to overcome the current market conditions, with some openly wondering where privately held Cerberus will get the funds to keep Chrysler afloat.

News of Daimler selling its stake in Chrysler comes at the same time when Chrysler LLC announced that the company would be bringing an electric car to the market in 2010, beating GM who is planning to roll out their own plugin hybrid, the Chevy Volt, by the end of that year. In business, cash is king, but each US automaker has been looking like a pauper these past few years.