Chrysler Quadruples Profit

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Chrysler quadruples profit

From: AFP April 27, 2012 11:16AM

CHRYSLER Group LLC earned $473 million ($A455 million) in the first quarter of 2012, more than quadrupling the $116 million profit in the same period of 2011.

The performance, fueled by sales gains in the US and Canada, was the company's largest quarterly profit since 1998.

"It goes without saying that we are incredibly satisfied with the performance of Chrysler for the first quarter of this year,'' Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said. "It has been undoubtedly a good market, but I think it is fair to say Chrysler has fired on all cylinders.''

At the start of the year, Mr Marchionne told analysts that he expected Chrysler to generate more than $1 billion in positive cash flow for the year.

"We have already done $1.7 billion,'' Mr Marchionne said. "The indications for the remainder of the year continue to be absolutely positive.''


While Chrysler's performance improved, sales and profit for its majority owner, Fiat, struggled in Europe.

Fiat said Thursday its first-quarter profit increased to $379 million during the first quarter compared with $37 million last year.

But in last year's first quarter, Fiat was not yet folding Chrysler's results into its finances.

Without Chrysler's profits, Fiat would have lost $361 million, or 273 million euro.

Fiat's troubles in Europe will likely be echoed by both Ford and General Motors and other automakers as they report first-quarter results. Ford is expected to lose money in Europe, and General Motors is working to restructure its struggling Opel unit.

The Italian automaker's sales in Europe were affected by a strike by transportation workers and Europe's struggling economy.

Fiat has said it lost the ability to deliver about 12,000 cars in March because a strike by car haulers caused it to shut down its plants. Meanwhile, consumer confidence in Italy, Fiat's largest European market, plunged to its lowest level in 15 years in April as the country struggles to deal with a recession.

Chrysler, which went through bankruptcy in 2009, said its revenue for the first three months rose 25 percent to $16.4 billion.

"Another positive quarter - built on sales gains that have surpassed the industry average - is affirmation that the Chrysler team is maintaining its focus,'' Mr Marchionne said.

The company shipped 607,000 vehicles worldwide in the quarter, up 25 percent from a year earlier.

[Wretched]

I know here Jeep has been breaking all amounts of records in terms of sales.

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The new 300C is here, in June, with the SRT8 around $65k....