Frankfurt - Giant German carmaker Daimler AG said Tuesday it posted a 1.3-billion-euro (1.7-billion-dollar) first-quarter loss amid the global car industry crisis. The announcement came just one day after Daimler announced it was offloading its stake in the ailing US auto group Chrysler.

Daimler, which manufactures luxury Mercedes-Benz vehicles, said Monday it had forged an agreement with Chrysler's owner, the US private equity group Cerberus Capital Management and the US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, to pull out of its 19.9-per-cent stake in the North American carmaker.

The move comes about two years after Daimler sold an 80.1-per cent stake in Chrysler to Cerberus, which brought to an end the German group's troubled decade-long merger with the embattled Detroit-based carmaker.

Already shored up by government aid, Chrysler is attempting to find a way out of its present crisis by forging an alliance with Italian carmaker Fiat.(dpa)