Chrysler, Automaker | featured news

The head of Italian automaker Fiat is considering a plan to hold a public stock offering after the company buys 100 percent of Chrysler, according to a person briefed on the matter.

March is turning out to be the best month for auto sales in at least six years. Major automakers including Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, General Motors and Nissan all reported increases, with some reporting their best monthly totals since the start of the Great Recession in December of 2007.

Fiat SpA, the Italian automaker that controls Chrysler LLC, saw fourth quarter earnings more than double thanks to strong North American sales that more than compensated for a weak performance in Europe.

At Detroit’s annual auto show, the carmaker’s chief executive said he expected the upward sales trend to continue this year, bolstering both Chrysler and its parent, Fiat.

Chrysler is recalling more than 919,000 older-model Jeep SUVs worldwide because the air bags can inflate while people are driving them.

Strong pickup demand fueled a big jump in U.S. auto sales last month. GM's August U.S. sales rose 10 percent compared with a year earlier, while Ford's rose 13 percent and Chrysler's 14 percent. Most automakers reported strong gains as Americans flowed into dealer showrooms, drawn by model-year closeouts, low-interest financing and appealing new models. Analysts expect overall sales to rise around 20 percent when companies finish reported later Tuesday.

Every week, Chrysler demonstrates some new phase of its determination to transform its three-year-old lifeline into solid viability — dare we even say, success? The company that has come to define corporate melodrama over the last 30 years looks more and more like the formidable long-term player that Chrysler never quite has been until now.

Chrysler reported its second-quarter profit soared as its predominately North American operations shielded it from the European economic slowdown on plaguing its U.S. competitors.

General Motors and Chrysler reported double-digit sales of new vehicles, while Ford’s rose 7 percent. Toyota sales were up 60 percent.

Federal safety regulators are investigating complaints about engine stalling in some Chrysler 200 midsize sedans. The probe includes about 87,000 of the cars from the 2011 model year...