While Italy teeters on the brink of insolvency, it has taken an Italian to get Chrysler back on its feet again. Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat, and now also the CEO of Chrysler, has brought the previously failing once big name back into the black.
Chrysler was so far in the red that it required US government loans to keep going, and had not posted a profit since 1997. Now it has apparently turned the corner and has shown a healthy profit of $183 million for the 2011 year.
Dodge Viper.
Marchionne is confident that Chrysler will increase market share during 2012 and is talking numbers like $1.5 billion profit. That is a very healthy profit.
The turn-around has been effected by redesigning the Jeep range and adding vehicles with Fiat origins, so that it will have small and mid-size cars to sell in that market, as well as the Dodge Ram pick-up, a new Viper and an electric Fiat 500.
2012 has started off very well with the company showing a 44 percent rise in US sales in January, well above market predictions.
