Chrysler Posts $225 Million Profit In Q4 2011, First Profitable Year Since 2009 Bailout
Chrysler on Wednesday revealed Q4 2011 and Detroits smallest automaker posted earnings of $225 million on revenue of $15.1 billion, 41 percent higher then the year prior. That amount also equals the first profitable quarter the company has had since a government bailout and subsequent bankruptcy saved Chrysler 2009.
That total also gave Chrysler a net income of $183 million in 2011 compared to a loss of $652 million in 2010. Annual revenue also increased in 2011 with the auto manufacturer taking in a whopping $55 billion.
Chrysler’s increasing success comes on the backs of the company’s Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles. Worldwide sales of cars and trucks for those brands increased by 22 percent, allowing for sales of 1.85 million vehicles in 2011 while Chrysler increased it’s share of the US market from 9.2 percent in 2010 to 10.5 percent in 2011.
Chrysler’s turnaround also comes despite a big charge taken by the company to pay outstanding debt to the United States and Canada. Without that charge the company would have earned $734 million.
Speaking of the company’s turn around at the hands of new owner Fiat, company CEO Sergio Marchionne noted:
“The house is in good order. Now we greet a new year of high expectations with our heads down, forging ahead and focusing on executing the goals we’ve set for ourselves as a company.”
In the meantime the governmental bailout could play well into the hands of the Obama administration during an election year, the administration was quick to hail Chrysler as proof that the government’s decision to offer auto bailouts was a success. In fact since the bailout Chrysler has added 9,400 jobs to now employee 57,000 people with plans expected for 1,600 new workers to join the company’s Belvidere, IL plant where they will build the new Dart.
By choosign to build the Dart in the United States the Obama Administration handed another 5 percent ownership stake back to Fiat.
Do you think Chrysler has done a good job in turning around operations in a very short period of time?
