While the Italian side of the Fiat-Chrysler alliance is having troubles on the other side of the Atlantic, the American division of the group is thriving.
Today, the Chrysler Group announced that it earned $473 million for the first quarter of 2012, up more than 300 percent from $116 million a year ago, mainly due to strong U.S. sales where the company reported a 40 percent increase.
This is the Chrysler Group’s strongest quarterly results in a little over 13 years, when it reported a net income of $682 million in the third quarter of 1998. Coincidentally, that was the same year the company was bought by Daimler.
“Another positive quarter – built on sales gains that have surpassed the industry average – is affirmation that the Chrysler team is maintaining its focus,” said Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne.
“We continue to deliver on the targets in our five-year plan and are now focused on successfully launching the Dodge Dart, a car that is a true melding of Chrysler’s and Fiat’s engineering and styling strengths,” he added.
The company’s profit came on a net revenue of $16.4 billion, up 25 percent from $13.1 billion in the first quarter of 2011. Chrysler’s debt was also reduced to $1.336 billion in March 2012, from $3.4 billion a year ago and $2.9 billion in December of 2011.
Worldwide vehicle sales for the first quarter totaled 523,000 units, up 33 percent from the same period in 2011, with Chrysler LLC’s U.S. market share increasing from 9.2 percent in 2011 to 11.2 percent this year. Furthermore, Chrysler said that for the first time in its history, it was the quarterly market leader in Canada with a share of 15.0 percent.
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