Chrysler held its annual meeting in New York.

Lee Iacocca, chairman of the nation’s third-largest auto maker, told stockholders that planned spending on new plants and products would depress short-term earnings but that the company has never been better off financially. Iacocca said the company has been forced to raise its five-year capital spending estimate to $12.5 billion for new plants, products and high-technology equipment. The shareholders approved a plan announced last fall to transform Chrysler Corp. into a holding company overseeing four subsidiaries, with the main component being the auto business, to be called Chrysler Motors Corp. The others are Chrysler Financial Corp., Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. and Chrysler Technologies Corp.