Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is turning the corner in Europe and may break even in the region at an operating level ahead of schedule as a focus on premium vehicles for export is starting to pay off.
“In 2015, we could break even at the operating level (in Europe),” CEO Sergio Marchionne said at the Detroit auto show in comments later confirmed by a spokesman.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne has increased his stake in the automaker to 1 percent and nearly doubled his voting stake after exercising stock options and cashing in on a share price jump after a plan to spin off Ferrari was unveiled last week.
Marchionne owns 12.1 million shares in FCA, equivalent to a 1 percent stake in the company, up from 0.65 percent he had before. The shares were worth $134 million at Tuesday’s closing price in New York. Marchionne held 6.8 million shares before the transaction.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne made about €10.7 million ($13.4 million) from a surge in the automaker’s share price after he announced a plan to spin off Ferrari.
Marchionne exercised options for 6.25 million Fiat Chrysler shares on Oct. 30 and sold that amount of shares by Oct. 31. He did the same for an equal amount of stock in CNH Industrial NV, the truck and tractor maker that was previously part of the Fiat group.
Sergio Marchionne, Fiat’s CEO and the architect of its merger with Chrysler, see potential to form a new No. 1 in the auto industry as carmakers grapple with low returns on the growing amount of money needed to develop new cars.
Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne says he will use the “human-interest” angle of Chrysler’s rebound from bankruptcy to help Fiat Chrysler appeal to U.S. investors ahead of a listing there later this year.
