UPDATE: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Launches on Wall Street

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV joined the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, October 13, 2014, capping a decade-long quest by CEO Sergio Marchionne to create a global auto company able to compete with the likes of Toyota and General Motors.

The new company is the world's seventh-largest carmaker by sales. But Marchionne considers FCA "fully equivalent" to GM and Ford and boasts it has the potential to become the world's biggest car manufacturer.

Shares (symbol FCAU) opened at $9.00, equal to Fiat's closing stock price on Friday. After reaching a high of $9.55 less than an hour after the market opened, they closed at $8.92.

Traded shares are coming from previous holders of Fiat stock, who gained equity in FCA under a 1:1 swap. FCA's new board is expected later this month to discuss a possible stock issue.

The company's NYSE listing comes amid an unusually volatile period on Wall Street. last week the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an annual high and annual low in successive days. GM and Ford shares have dropped about 13% and 20%, respectively since Sept. 1 amid fears of a new wave of global economic stagnation.

FCA arrives with some $12 billion (€9.7 billion) in debt and ambitious plans to boost sales about 60% to 7 million units and multiply net earnings fivefold to $6.3 billion (€5 billion) by 2018.