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Fiat Chrysler's profit boosted by Ram and Jeep in North America

MILAN/DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler took the market by surprise by sticking to its full-year profit guidance on Wednesday after a strong performance from its Ram pickup truck in North America helped it defy an industry slowdown. Chief Executive Mike Manley, in FCA's first earnings release since a failed attempt to merge with France's Renault, also left the door open to that or other deals. "We are open to opportunity," Manley said on a call with analysts. "I have no doubt why there still would be interest in it," he added, when pressed on what it would take to revive talks with Renault. Manley declined to comment further. FCA last month abandoned its $35 billion merger offer for Renault, blaming French politics for scuttling what would have been a landmark deal to create the world's third-biggest automaker. Manley said a merger was not a must-have and Fiat Chrysler's business plan was strong. The company said it remained confident its adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) would top last year's 6.7 billion euros ($7.5 billion). Given disappointing forecasts from other automakers this earnings season, FCA's confirmation of the outlook sent Milan-listed shares in the Italian-American automaker, whose other brands include Jeep, up over 4%. A broad-based auto sales downturn has rattled the sector, forcing FCA's competitors — including Renault, Daimler and Aston Martin — to cut their sales forecasts after second-quarter results, while U.S. carmaker Ford gave a weaker-than-expected 2019 profit outlook. Japan's Nissan, a long-term partner of Renault, said it would cut 12,500 jobs by 2023 after its earnings collapsed. In the second quarter FCA's adjusted EBIT totaled 1.52 billion euros, versus analysts' expectations of 1.43 billion euros, according to a Reuters poll. FCA's U.S. shipments were down 12% in the second quarter but the group said that the successful performance of its Ram brand resulted in an enhanced share of the large pickup truck market of 27.9%, up 7 percentage points from last year. Adjusted EBIT margin in North America rose to 8.9% from 6.5% in the first quarter, thanks to strong demand for the heavy-duty Ram and the new Jeep Gladiator pickup. Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer also said FCA expected to report up to 10% margins in the region in both the third and fourth quarters.

Gladiators, Pilots, and Palisades, plus a couple boring crossovers | Autoblog Podcast #562

On this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski. The duo discuss the leaked Jeep Gladiator, Ford's Baby Bronco, the Aston Martin DBX, and then touch on other reborn names like the Honda Pilot. They also discuss how boring crossovers have taken over as the family car of choice in the United States and debate the merits of turbocharged V6 engines versus the classic American V8. Finally, we spend your money.Autoblog Podcast #562 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Jeep Gladiator leaked Hyundai Palisade and Honda Pilot teased Aston Martin DBX Ford Baby Bronco leaked Boring crossovers Ford F-150 2.7-liter EcoBoost Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: Podcasts LA Auto Show Aston Martin Ford GMC Honda Hyundai Jeep Truck Crossover SUV honda pilot jeep gladiator aston martin dbx hyundai palisade ford baby bronco

Final Toledo Jeep decision may have nothing to do with city's efforts

Toledo, OH is doing all that it can to keep production of the Jeep Wrangler in its boundaries, but the biggest issue facing the plant may be insurmountable, no matter how desperately the city wants to keep the Wrangler local. The Wrangler is built in a rather interesting manner at the Toledo Supplier Park: Fiat Chrysler only handles the very final assembly of each vehicle, while two other companies, Kuka, a German firm, and Hyundai-Mobis, a member of the sprawling Hyundai empire, produce the body and chassis, respectively. The vehicles are then transferred over to the FCA part of the park, where they're painted and completed. This was, as The Detroit News explains, a convenient arrangement back in 2006 when the supplier park opened. Chrysler, which was still owned by Daimler at the time, arranged for Kuka and Mobis to handle production, saving it a huge sum of money. Both suppliers own their own machinery and buildings and employ their own workers. Now that FCA is a relatively healthy entity, though, there's not a lot of need to be sharing profits with two other companies. "What [FCA boss Sergio Marchionne] would like is to have the advantages of high-capacity utilization, owning that capacity and taking advantage of that for himself versus having a supplier doing some of the things his competitors do internally," David Cole, chairman emeritus at the Ann Arbor, MI-based Center for Automotive Research, told The News. "It really adds another level of complexity to the situation." While Sergio Marchionne is a man that generally gets what he wants, it seems unlikely that either Mobis or Kuka would give up their role quietly. According to Jon Zapf, Mobis North America's chairperson for UAW Local 12, the company "definitely wants to maintain their part of this production process." According to The News, Jeep is likely to announce the location of next-generation Wrangler production in June. Expect to hear much more on this one in the coming months.