Fiat-Chrysler Earnings Rise Sharply; Ram Production Coming to Sterling Heights

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne has a good morning today, after FCA announced boosted profit and earnings spurred by healthy sales in the U.S. and Europe.

First quarter net profits were up from just above the break-even point a year ago to 451 million euros ($539.4 million), according to The Detroit News, with pre-tax earnings up 88 percent to 1.3 billion euros ($1.6 billion).

All regions except Asia-Pacific returned a profit, causing Marchionne to sound very optimistic about what lies ahead.

“We see nothing negative on the horizon,” Marchionne reportedly said on a conference call. “The outlook for the year continues to be strong.”

Sales in Latin America allowed the company to made the switch from red ink to black in that market, but it was North American sales — of Jeep and Ram products, specifically — that made up about 90 percent of the earnings increase.

Though Marchionne sounded sunny today, Fortune quotes a Milan-based trader who questions whether FCA can replicate its Q1 performance in the future, given pressures from the company’s high debt load.

FCA is currently restructuring its U.S. assembly operations in a bid for efficiencies and maximized sales of its biggest money makers.

According to Brent Snavely of the Detroit Free Press, Marchionne confirmed that the company’s Sterling Heights assembly plant will produce the next Ram full-size pickup by 2018 (but not before the layoff of many Chrysler 200 workers this summer), with retooling planned for the Warren plant to aid in Jeep production. Ram production in Warren will be wound down before that time.

Production of a successor to the Jeep Compass/Patriot will go to Toluca, Mexico, with U.S. sales beginning in early 2017.

[Image: FCA US LLC]