AUTOS

Chrysler Sells Piece of Mitsubishi: The American auto maker has sold nearly a third of its stock in Mitsubishi Motors Corp., leaving it with a 4% stake in the Japanese auto maker, a Chrysler spokesman said in Detroit. The 15.5 million shares were sold to U.S. investors within the last few weeks, he added. Chrysler eventually will sell its remaining 34.75 million shares as the company works toward its goal of concentrating on its new products. The $100 million raised by the stock sale likely will be shown as a one-time gain in Chrysler’s second-quarter earnings. Chrysler acquired a 15% stake in Mitsubishi in 1971, a year after the Japanese auto maker became independent of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Its stake in Mitsubishi has been as high as 24%.