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Chrysler nets $1.6B income in Q4, Fiat profit up 5%

Chrysler announced its 2013 financial results today and unveiled its new name and decidedly bank-like logo. Amid the announcement, Chrysler posted big gains in income, while Fiat didn't perform to analysts' expectations.
For 2013, Chrysler had revenue of $72.1 billion, up 10 percent from 2012. Net income reached $2.8 billion, a 65-percent increase. It was the company's third straight year of annual profits.
In terms of unit sales, Chrysler sold 2.4 million cars worldwide in 2013, up 9 percent. According to Automotive News, 1.8 million of those vehicles were sold in the US, a 14-percent increase. The sales growth boosted Chrysler's US market share to 11.4 percent, up 0.2 percent.

Maserati Levante crossover not Jeep based after all?

Maserati has been teasing its crossover project since 2011, which is when it first showed off the Kubang concept (pictured above). Still, the production version, rumored to be called the Levante, remains a complete mystery. The CUV was first rumored to borrow the platform from the Jeep Grand Cherokee, but new rumors indicate that the Italian, luxury crossover might actually take the underpinnings from the Quattroporte and Ghibli.
In a brief interview, Maserati CEO Harald Wester told CNN Money that the Levante wouldn't use Jeep's platform. Motor Trend spoke with an unnamed Maserati engineer who confirmed the rumor. Officially, the company says that no decision has been made.
We can add this to another long list of rumors about the Italian CUV. It was originally supposed to be built at Chrysler's Jefferson North assembly plant in Detroit. Then, plans were changed to build it in Italy.

Jeep gunning for 1M sales this year

Jeep CEO Mike Manley would rather soft-pedal the seven-figure prognostication for now, but Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne won't have it, proclaiming in an interview that Jeep will sell one million units worldwide this year. Manley has called that come-hither number "a stretch," the history of recent gains perhaps reason for his caution: in 2011 the brand sold 568,317 units, followed by the record-breaking tally of 701,626, then another record in 2013 with 731,565 units moved.
That kind of gap means everything will need to go magically for Jeep to record a 37-percent increase this year - amazing Cherokee sales, a brilliant launch for the little Jeep arriving in Europe later this year and a heavy wave to raise sales in US, European and Chinese markets. Manley is confident about the prospects in 2015, though, with the Cherokee in full stride, the Fiat-based Jeep on its way to the US and expanded global production. It's not as though Marchionne's prediction for Jeep's 2014 sales is unexpected, since he first made it last year. But even if the number ends up a little short for 2014, there's no doubt it will be impressive.