DaimlerChrysler without Chrysler might not be that farfetched an idea.

Executives at Chrysler’s German parent on Wednesday refused to rule out the possibility that the Chrysler Group could be spun off or sold, after Chrysler announced that it lost $1.5 billion in the last three months.

Though there are no indications that such a spinoff is imminent, the possibility of such a sale is the latest sign of upheaval in the American auto industry, as the three Detroit companies struggle to return to profitability.

Such a move would potentially end the eight-year merger that shook the automobile industry when it was announced in 1998. That merger triggered other transnational arrangements, like the alliance between Renault and Nissan, and the now-defunct deal between General Motors and Fiat.

...snip...

“The goal is to create a strategy that assures the sustained profitability at Chrysler and DaimlerChrysler,” Bodo Übber, DaimlerChrysler’s chief financial officer, said during a conference call with industry analysts and journalists. He added: “We don’t exclude anything here.”

Mr. Übber continued, “We at first are doing the analysis, then we are talking about it, and we draw our conclusions.”

His careful language prompted immediate questions about whether Chrysler was up for sale. To one, Mr. Übber replied, “I can only repeat myself — first analysis, second measures, third is conclusion. That is what my statement is.”

He added: “Any speculation is what you are doing. I don’t do any speculation.”