Fiat: 4Q losses total €281 million on falling truck and construction equipment sales

Fiat reports 4Q loss of €281 million

MILAN — Fiat Group SpA, which took a 20 percent stake in Chrysler LCC last year, is reporting a fourth-quarter loss of €281 million ($397 million) due to falling sales of trucks and construction equipmnet.

That compares with a net profit of €163 million in the same period a year earlier.

Full-year losses totaled €838 million, compared with earnings of €1.6 billion for all of 2008.

Fourth quarter revenues were up 3.5 percent to €13.6 billion compared with €13.1 billion a year earlier.

Revenues for Fiat Group Autos, which includes the Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Fiat brands, were boosted by government scrapping incentives in key European markets to €7.2 billion, which Fiat says were the auto business’s highest-ever fourth quarter revenues. That compares with €5.7 billion a year earlier.