Chrysler post 16% net profit increase for Q2

U.S. giant auto maker Chrysler Group LLC posted a net profit of 507 million U.S. dollars for the second quarter of 2013, up 16 percent from the 436 million dollars the company registered a year earlier, local media reported Tuesday. The strong performance, according to the Detroit News, helped boost its parent company Fiat SpA's second quarter net profit to about 577 million dollars, an 82 percent increase. Without Chrysler, the Italian automaker would have lost nearly 328 million dollars. Net revenue for the second quarter was also up 7 percent to 18 billion dollars, while worldwide vehicle shipments increased 5 percent to 660,000 units, thanks primarily to a 17 percent increase in U.S. retail sales, according to Chrysler, with its U.S. market share increasing to 11.4 percent, compared with 11.2 percent a year earlier. Chrysler had previously projected full-year earnings of approximately 2.2 billion dollars, but later lowered its estimates for the rest of the year due to a series of costly recalls. However, Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne remained upbeat, saying Chrysler is on track to continue the year-over-year growth trend that began when it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009. "We're relatively satisfied with the performance of Chrysler in the second quarter," Marchionne said. "The market is holding up well, and Chrysler is doing well in that market." Fiat gained control of Chrysler as part of a 2009 bailout of the bankrupt automaker brokered by the U.S. government. The Italian company currently owns 58.5 percent of Chrysler and is trying to buy the rest from a retiree health care trust run by the United Auto Workers.