Fiat loses $444 million in first quarter of 2014; outlines ambitious earnings by 2018

The company, which did not breakout Chrysler's earnings, lost money during the first three months of the year due to a 315-million euro ($418 million) charge due to purchasing Chrysler shares from the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust and the cost of the devaluation of Venezuela’s currency. Without the charges, Fiat earned 71 million euros ($98 million), according to a report from Fiat CFO Richard Palmer.

DETROIT, MI- Fiat today reported a net loss of 319 million euros ($444 million) for the first quarter of 2014 compared with a net profit of 31 million euros ($43.2 million) a year earlier.

The company, which did not breakout Chrysler's earnings, lost money during the first three months of the year due to a 315-million euro ($418 million) charge due to purchasing Chrysler shares from the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust and the cost of the devaluation of Venezuela’s currency. Without the charges, Fiat earned 71 million euros ($98 million), according to a report from Fiat CFO Richard Palmer.

Fiat reported revenue of 22.1 billion euros ($30.8 billion), up 12 percent from the first-quarter of 2013.

As part of its five-year plan, which Palmer also discussed today, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – the merger of Fiat SpA and Chrysler Group LLC – also announced projected long-term earnings.

By 2018, the company expects to sell 7 million vehicles globally; revenues to grow to 132 billion euros ($183.8 billion), up from 87 billion euros ($121.1 billion); and net income to jump to more than 5 billion euros ($7 billion), up from roughly 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) last year.