FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — First-quarter earnings at DaimlerChrysler AG more than doubled as a strong performance by the Mercedes Car Group outweighed widening losses at the US-based Chrysler unit that the company agreed this week to sell.The German-American automaker said yesterday it earned [EURO]1.97 billion ($2.67 billion) in the January-March period, up from [EURO]718 million a year earlier and well above the [EURO]1.39 billion ($1.88 billion) forecast of analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Sales fell to [EURO]35.4 billion (US$47.96 billion) from [EURO]37.4 billion, below the [EURO]36.63 billion (US$49.63 billion) analysts had expected.

Chief Financial Officer Bodo Uebber said the company, freed from the approximately $17.5 billion in health care and pension liabilities associated with Chrysler, would be in much stronger financial shape.

"We clearly state today we have excess liquidity in our hands ... which is a good issue," he told analysts and reporters on a conference call. "It is something that shareholders should enjoy."

Shares of DaimlerChrysler rose 2.9 percent to close at [EURO]63.54 ($86.02), following on their 1.8 percent gain a day earlier as investors showed their relief that the company would soon be free of the billions in legacy costs.

The Chrysler Group — most of which is being sold to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP in a [EURO]5.5 billion ($7.45 billion) deal announced on Monday — lost $1.98 billion before interest and taxes, compared with a profit of $857 million a year earlier. That figure included $1.2 billion in restructuring charges after the company announced a plan to cut 13,000 jobs in the US and Canada and pare back production.

The quarterly results were reported for the first time using International Financial Reporting Standards, which uses EBIT rather than operating profit.

Chrysler also posted an 8 percent drop in factory shipments to 642,200 vehicles, while sales fell 18 percent to [EURO]10.2 billion ($13.81 billion).