Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) reported robust growth in North American profit in the second quarter Thursday and boosted its full-year forecast, as the world’s seventh-largest carmaker narrowed the gap with its bigger US rivals.
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Milan-listed shares in FCA were briefly halted from trading for excessive gains and were up almost 5 percent at 1245 GMT.
In the US, FCA doubled its quarterly profits year-over-year, to $1.4 billion from $650 million, the Detroit Free Press reported. It maintained its net profit forecast of between 1 billion euros and 1.2 billion euros.
The company’s total revenues in the quarter grew 25 percent to €29.2 billion, or about $32 billion.
Although the Ram buyback offer potentially covered 585,000 trucks with faulty steering components, Fiat Chrysler said it already has repaired 410,000, and those customers aren’t eligible for the buybacks. He said that the repurchase program covering some Ram trucks involves a maximum of about 175,000 vehicles that have not yet been repaired, and said that the overall costs were not expected to top $20 million.
The company said Monday it will pay a $70-million fine to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a further $20 million on “consumer outreach activities and incentives”. It would have to pay another $15-million if it violates the agreement.
He said the company notified customers on time 98 percent of the time. “That’s not an excuse and we must and will do better about this”, he said. NAFTA revenue grew 40 percent to $18.8 billion from $13.4 billion previous year. Ford’s margin is 11.1% and GM’s is 10.5%. FCA has filed plans with regulators to spin off its highly profitable Ferrari subsidiary as a public company later this year, with FCA keeping 10% of the shares. North America and Europe were strong in the second quarter, each region up 16 percent based on constant exchange rates, while the Latin American and Asia Pacific regions posted lower results.
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Sergio Marchionne, chief executive, has been shopping the company among competitors to find a merger partner or ally to share capital costs of new vehicles and technology.
