VW Fiat and Chrysler profits rise

Published:  27 Apr at 6 PM

As reported by the BBC, automobile giants Chrysler, Fiat and Volkswagen have all announced surges in first-quarter profits while the world car market recovers.

Chrysler, which is now managed by Italy's Fiat, reported net profits of $473 million, its highest quarterly profit in thirteen years. This pushed Fiat’s overall net profits up by ten times to 379 million euros. Chrysler’s strong performance offset Fiat’s slower sales in Europe. The first quarter net profit for Germany's Volkswagen almost doubled to 3.2 billion euros ($4.2 billion; £2.6 billion) compared to one year ago.

VW, whose brands also include Audi, Seat, Skoda and Bentley – announced that it was exceeding the market in all regions while deliveries to customers went up by 11.1% to 2.2 million cars. VW shares finished upby 7.8% in Frankfurt.

VW's models were especially in demand in Russia, which was where sales increased by 77% to 66,000 cars. The automobile maker said it was still aiming to make record deliveries exceeding 2011’s record of 8.3 million cars.

Chrysler announced a 39% rise in its first quarter sales, as it marks another phase in recovering from its low point in 2009 when it was saved by a federal task-force. The company’s profit figure was four times what it had made during the first quarter 12 months ago and was the highest result since 1998.