Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire investor, has suffered a setback in his $4.5 billion (£2.3 billion) bid to buy Chrysler as it has emerged that DaimlerChrysler, the car company’s German parent, believes that his all-cash offer is too low.

DaimlerChrysler has not communicated directly with Mr Kerkorian about the offer — which some analysts in Germany claim undervalues the carmaker by half.

Instead, he has been left out of a series of scheduled meetings in New York between a senior Daimler official and three other bidders for the American car manufacturer.

Mr Kerkorian lodged a $4.5 billion cash offer for Chrysler late last week. Even then it appeared that his offer was unpopular in Germany, as Daimler and JPMorgan Chase, the company’s Wall Street advisor, refused to send out a due diligence book to the billionaire and his advisors.

Rödiger Grube, a management-board member and head of strategy at DaimlerChrysler, is in New York this week to meet other potential bidders for Chrysler.

It is understood that they include a partnership of private equity firms led by Blackstone Group and Centerbridge Capital Partners; a second private equity consortium led by Cerberus Capital Management; and a third that includes Ripple-wood Holdings and Magna International, a Canadian car-parts supplier. Mr Kerkorian has also incurred the ire of union bosses in Canada, who are crucial to the success of the deal. Buzz Hargrove, the Canadian Auto Workers president, said: “I am not interested in Kerkorian’s style. His whole history has been to make money by taking advantage of throwing a lot of people out of work.

He is the guy I am totally opposed to.”

Chrysler has $15 billion of employee liabilities, which include healthcare and pension costs. The carmaker also has to renegotiate a new contract with its biggest unions.

Tracinda, Mr Kerkorian’s investment company, declined to comment about the status of its bid to buy Chrysler.

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