Chrysler LLC will soon be able to offer no-interest financing to buyers of some of its vehicles - thanks to a $1.5 billion five-year loan from the US Treasury, for its credit arm Chrysler Financial! The aid, part of the $700 billion federal bailout, will help in boosting the sales of the struggling Detroit automaker.

Earlier this month, the Treasury had announced a loan up to $4 billion to Chrysler's auto operations.

The recession-hit sales of Chrysler fell by 53 percent in December, with the frozen asset-backed securities markets making it impossible for likely buyers with lower credit scores to get loans.

Steve Landry, Chrysler's executive vice president of North America sales, said on January 12: "We are the only company that really doesn't have an active captive finance company able to finance wholesale and retail. Our dealers in the months of November and December were really not doing much business with Chrysler Financial at all."

In a statement released in Washington, the Treasury said that as a prerequisite of the aid Chrysler Financial settled to limits on executive compensation and corporate governance. An initial $100 million loan payment was handed over to Chrysler Financial on Friday.

The loan helped the automaker immediately roll out a zero percent financing offer for as long as five years on 11 of its models. The offer is expected to boost the company's sales by almost 20 percent; and Landry says there are more incentives to follow!