Chrysler drives back into profit

Chrysler, the US car maker, is in profit for the first time since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009. The company posted net income of $116m in the first three months of the year.

A gritty ad campaign featuring Eminem and the slogan "imported from Detroit" helped to boost sales in the US, and group revenues leapt 35 per cent to $13.1bn. The company said that until now, high-interest payments on money Chrysler owes to the US and Canadian governments had kept the motor firm in the red.

It said it planned to borrow $6bn in the private market in the next few weeks to refinance those government loans.