NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Chrysler Group, the embattled North American unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, should be back in the black for the first quarter, its first profit since the second quarter of 2000, the company told shareholders Wednesday.

Still, the company did not change its previously stated guidance of break-even results for Chrysler this year. It also said it is on track to meet its earlier full-year earnings guidance for the entire company to post operating income "significantly more than double last year's figure." But in terms of future results, it said it may take longer than originally forecast to meet some of its earlier earnings guidance "due to projected economic trends."

Shares of DaimlerChrysler (DCX: up $1.46 to $45.62, Research, Estimates) initially lost ground in Germany, then rallied in U.S. trading Wednesday after the statements by CEO Jürgen Schrempp at the shareholder meeting in Berlin.

The Chrysler turnaround comes despite an 8 percent drop in the unit's U.S. sales to 542,199 vehicles, as its U.S. market share fall to 13.8 percent from 14.4 percent in last year's first quarter. The U.S. auto market also continued to rely on high levels of incentives to maintain buyer interest.

While No. 1 U.S. automaker General Motors Corp. (GM: up $2.04 to $62.49, Research, Estimates) is expected to post an earnings per share rise to $1.09 from 50 cents a year earlier, No. 2 Ford Motor Co. (F: up $0.56 to $15.59, Research, Estimates) is expected to post a loss of 14 cents a share compared with earnings of 60 cents a year earlier.

The quicker-than-expected return to profitability pleased some analysts. Jürgen Pie per, an auto analyst at Metzler Bank, told Reuters that Schrempp's comments on Chrysler were a "small sensation."

But Schrempp still faced harsh questioning from shareholders about the company's performance as well as his somewhat vague guidance on future results.

"What particularly embitters us shareholders is that after the high losses, you still make this unprecise outlook statement, even though you have given some indication of first-quarter results, albeit also in an unprecise fashion," said Joerg Pluta of the German Association for Securities Ownership.

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Klaus Kaldemorgen, head of equity fund management at DWS Investments, which holds about 0.8 percent of DaimlerChrysler shares, said the German automaker would not have lost as much value if it had never merged with Chrysler and said the truck unit should be spun off.

"Your shareholders would finally like profits instead of endless possibilities, to quote your advertising," he told the management board, but added he accepted the board was trying to tackle the firm's problems.

Schrempp said that he's committed to following management's plans to restructure the automaker, first laid out a year ago.

"Last year at this time I said that we do not believe it makes any sense to respond to operating problems by changing the direction of our strategy," he said. The company would continue its course, he added, "because we are convinced that our strategy will lead your company to the top of the automotive industry."  

-- from staff and wire reports