DETROIT - Chrysler’s first-quarter profit tumbled 65 percent as shipments of cars and trucks fell while it prepared factories to assemble several new vehicles.
The Auburn Hills, Mich., company said Monday that it earned $166 million in the January-March quarter, compared with $473 million a year ago. Revenue fell 6 percent to $15.4 billion.
Chrysler, which is majority-owned by Italy’s Fiat SpA, said worldwide vehicle shipments fell 6 percent during the quarter to 574,000. Chrysler, like other automakers, books revenue when it ships vehicles to dealerships.
The company attributed the decline mainly to the end of production of the Jeep Liberty mid-size sport utility vehicle at a factory in Toledo, Ohio, last year. That factory is being prepped to build the Liberty’s replacement, the all-new Jeep Cherokee, starting in the second quarter. Chrysler shipped 31,000 fewer Liberty models than it did a year ago.
Also, factories that build the 2014 Grand Cherokee and the 2013 Ram Heavy Duty pickup were slowed by the changeover to the revamped models, the company said. And international shipments also were down because of the faltering economy in Europe and import restrictions in Latin America, Chrysler said.
Automakers frequently see shipments and sales drop as they retool factories for updated models, but Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne clearly was frustrated with Chrysler Group LLC’s transitions. Still, the company expects to recover in the second half of the year when dealers are fully stocked with new vehicles. Chrysler kept its guidance of $2.2 billion in net income, revenue between $72 billion and $75 billion and shipments of 2.6 million to 2.7 million vehicles.
Marchionne, who also is CEO of Fiat, told analysts Tuesday that the quarter’s results were “not so glorious.”
He said that Chrysler must flawlessly execute the Cherokee introduction and work hard to meet full-year estimates. “There’s not a guy in this house who thinks it’s going to be a walk in the park,” he said.
He said it was unfortunate that Chrysler reported a poor quarter just after Ford Motor Co. released strong earnings. Ford’s first-quarter profit rose 15 percent to $1.6 billion as record earnings in North America tempered big losses in Europe. Ford’s sales were up 10 percent worldwide.
“To be perfectly honest, I’m envious,” Marchionne said.
The 2014 Grand Cherokee went on sale last month, while the 2013 Ram Heavy Duty trucks went on sale starting in January. Chrysler expects to begin selling the Cherokee sometime in the third quarter.
Fiat was given management control of Chrysler in 2009 when the company nearly ran out of cash and had to be rescued by a U.S. government bailout. Now, with the economic troubles in Europe, Chrysler is providing a financial lifeline to Fiat, which owns 58.5 percent of Chrysler.
Fiat on Monday reported a loss of $108 million for the first quarter because of weak sales in Europe and Chrysler’s lower earnings.
Chrysler finished the first quarter with $11.9 billion in cash, compared with $11.6 billion at the end of 2012. Debt was down $100 million from the end of the year, at $12.5 billion.
During the first quarter of 2012, Chrysler posted its biggest profit since leaving bankruptcy protection in 2009.
The first-quarter profit decline came even though worldwide and U.S. sales were up 8 percent from a year earlier.
Overall, Fiat’s revenue was down 2 percent to $25.8 billion, as strong sales in Latin America and Asia and demand for its premium brands helped compensate for declines in North America and Europe. Revenue was down 3 percent to $13 billion in North America and 4 percent to $5.8 billion in Europe, where the financial crisis has badly hurt consumer spending.
“The rest of the year is going to be challenging,” Marchionne told analysts. “We are fully aware these are unsettled markets.”
Fiat said it projects another 5 percent decline in European sales this year and forecast sales in Italy would drop to 1.3 million, after contracting 20 percent to 1.4 million in 2012.
“We probably have not seen the bottom of this market,” Marchionne said.
Information for this article was contributed by Dee-Ann Durbin and Colleen Barry of The Associated Press
Business, Pages 23 on 04/30/2013