Fiat Expects Better Financial Results This Year

Fiat SpA will improve its financial results in 2012 over last year despite the Italian market's current plunge to a 40-year low, Chairman John Elkann tells Italian weekly Panorama.

Elkann did not specify which results he meant or whether the company has raised its previous forecast for this year.

In July Fiat confirmed its full-year outlook that revenue will grow from $77 million in 2011 to more than $99 million, and trading profit will jump from $3.1 billion to a range of $4.9 billion- $5.8 billion in 2012. The company projects net income will fall from $4.4 billion to $1.5 billion-$1.9 billion.

Elkann declares Fiat is on "solid footing." He says the company is profitable in Asia, Brazil and the U.S., which is offsetting losses in Europe. Elkann also credits CEO Sergio Marchionne's decision to shrink Fiat's investment in factories and product development and delay the launch of new models during the economic slump.

Elkann dismisses criticism of that strategy from analysts and unions. "Fiat has always found itself on its knees" when demand fell, he says. "For the first time, this has not happened."