Chrysler LLC, the third-largest U.S. automaker, is ahead of its 2008 goals for generating cash and running the business, and will post a ``significantly lower'' loss than in 2007, Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli said.

``We're not out looking for more money,'' Nardelli, 59, said in a Bloomberg Television interview today. ``We're not going to run out of cash.'' He said he isn't considering bankruptcy or selling the Jeep brand.

Thanks to technological breakthroughs, at least six automakers - starting with Mercedes on Oct. 16, Jeep in early 2007, and eventually even hybrid pioneer Honda - will be launching a fleet of New Age diesels. They promise to boost fuel economy by 25% to 40%, with huge torque and turbochargers to deliver the power American drivers crave.

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The first breakthrough is that ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel will roll out to the nation's pumps this month. The move was mandated by the EPA, whose 2009 emissions rules will hold diesels to the same standards - the world's toughest - as gasoline cars. (Environmentalists were thrilled, oil companies less so: The rollout will cost them $6 billion to $9 billion.) The new fuel eliminates 97% of sulfur, and it's also the catalyst for automakers to devise strategies to reduce the remaining pollutants.

Chrysler also announced an offer that caps the price of gasoline at $2.99 a gallon for three years for people who buy or lease new vehicles from Wednesday through June 2. The offer is based on 12,000 miles of driving per year at the vehicle's rated fuel economy.

Customers will get a card for buying gas that is linked to their own charge account, Chrysler said. The customer will be billed $2.99 a gallon, and Chrysler will pay the rest.

Actual savings depend on what happens to gas prices over the next three years, but based on the $3.61 a gallon average price reported Monday by AAA, someone buying a 2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser, which gets an estimated 21 miles per gallon in city driving, would save $355 a year.

The Orlando Sentinel says "Used-car dealers don't want the big vehicles on their lots anymore because hardly anyone is buying them. Some won't take them at any price."

Guy Lance, sales manager at Admiral Nissan in Pleasantville, New Jersey, told the Press of Atlantic City that he increasingly sees "people trying to trade in SUVs that are less than a year old." Lance added, "Normally, people don't trade out that quickly," but, "Let's admit it, when you go to a gas station and say, 'Just put $90 in my truck,' that's a little hard to swallow."

Chrysler's lineup of compact vehicles continued to connect well with consumers this month. Total compact vehicle sales of the fuel-efficient Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot, which each achieve 28 miles per gallon or better in highway driving, reached an April record 17,977 units last month, up 16 percent from April 2007.

To give you an example: Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro, basically a similar vehicle with different skin and a little bit of different interior; Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango, same platform; Sebring, Avenger, same platform. We're not going to have vehicles like that. We're not going to have twin vehicles, one for one brand and one for another.

All of these big debuts are meant to attract media attention, and that they do very well. But the word from Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli is that the party's over. Going forward, Chrysler will tone down its debuts to focus on the products and save a bit of coin by nixing the big-budget theatrics. Sources inside Chrysler note that Nardelli and his right-hand man Jim Press aren't into the pyrotechnics, confetti and glass-breaking debuts that have made Chrysler press conferences famous in the past.