Cars and Drivers

Ram Pickups, Jeep Grand Cherokees Drive Strong Chrysler Results

Chrysler reported preliminary fourth-quarter and full-year 2013 results before markets opened Wednesday. For the quarter, the automaker posted adjusted net income of $659 million on net revenues of $21.2 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported adjusted net income of $378 million and net revenues of $17.1 billion. Strong U.S. sales of Ram pickups and Jeep Grand Cherokees helped Chrysler post its 10th-straight profitable quarter.

For the full year, Chrysler posted adjusted net income of $1.8 billion on revenues of $72.1 billion, compared with net income of $1.6 billion on revenues of $65.7 billion. That was its best performance since exiting bankruptcy in 2009.

For the year, worldwide vehicle sales totaled 2.4 million, up 9% from a year ago. That gain was due largely to a 14% increase in U.S. retail sales. However, U.S. fleet sales as a percentage of total U.S. sales fell from 26% in 2012 to 22% in 2013. Sales in the fourth-quarter rose 11% from a year ago to 592,000 vehicles.

Worldwide vehicle shipments came to 2.6 million for the year, up from 2.4 million a year ago. For the fourth quarter, worldwide vehicle shipments totaled 736,000 vehicles, or 20% more than in the same period last year.

U.S. market share was 11.4% for the year, an 11.2% gain from a year ago.

Chrysler set the following targets for 2014:

  • Worldwide vehicle shipments of ~2.8 million
  • Net revenue of ~$80 billion
  • Modified Operating Profit of $3.7-$4.0 billion
  • Net income of $2.3-$2.5 billion
  • Free Cash Flow of $0.5-$1.0 billion

In addition, the newly combined Fiat-Chrysler group is expected to announce Wednesday what its name will be, the country of its legal registration and on which exchanges its stock will be traded.

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