DETROIT â€" As Chrysler on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.62 billion, bolstered by a big one-time tax gain, its owner, the Italian car company Fiat, unveiled its plans to rename the combined entity and have its primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Fiat’s board said Wednesday that the new name of the American-Italian automaker would be Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. It will be organized as a corporation in the Netherlands and based in Britain for tax purposes. As expected, the shares in the new company will be listed on both the New York and Milan stock exchanges.
The new company is the seventh-largest automaker in the world, and combines Chrysler’ strength in North America, particularly in the truck market, with Fiat’s core businesses in Europe and South America.
Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of both Fiat and Chrysler, said the two companies have already been successfully integrated over the last five years. “Today we can say we have succeeded in creating solid foundations for a global automaker with a mix of experience and know-how on a level with the best of our competitors,†he said in a statement.
Chrysler’s strong quarterly and full-year performance helped prop up Fiat, which struggled for the quarter. Fiat earned €252 million, or $345 million, for the quarter, excluding one-time items. Without earnings from Chrysler, Fiat would have lost €235 million, nearly double the loss from a year ago.
!Fiat posted a profit of €943 million for the year without one-time items, but it would have lost €911 million without profits from Chrysler.
The Italian automaker’s board also announced it had decided to end the company’s dividend since taking full control of Chrysler. Chrysler has been controlled by Fiat since its bankruptcy and government bailout five years ago. But Fiat took full ownership of Chrysler last week after buying out the large minority stake held by a health care trust for retired American autoworkers and their families. Fiat spent $1.75 billion in cash and $1.9 billion in extraordinary dividends.
The fourth quarter of 2013 was the 10th consecutive profitale quarter for Chrysler, which is the third-largest domestic car manufacturer after General Motors and Ford Motor. For the quarter, Chrysler received a one-time $962 million tax benefit related to valuation allowances on deferred assets.
Without the tax gain, Chrysler earned a fourth-quarter profit of $659 million, an increase of 74 percent over the $378 million it earned in the period a year earlier.
Chrysler’s profit in the fourth quarter was driven by the continued success of core models like the Ram pickup and Jeep sport utility vehicles. It reported revenue for the quarter of $21.2 billion, a 24 percent increase over the year-ago period.
The company also kept i! nvesting ! in new products, like the Jeep Cherokee, a small S.U.V., and the Chrysler 200 midsize sedan.
“The 2013 year-end financial results reflect the commitment Chrysler Group has made to rapidly refresh our product lineup with vehicles that achieve exacting performance standards,†Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of both Chrysler and Fiat, said in a statement.
For the full year, Chrysler reported net income of $2.76 billion. Without the tax gain, the company earned $1.82 billion, which was a 9 percent improvement over 2012.
Chrysler said it sold 2.4 million vehicles worldwide in 2013, a 9 percent gain over the 2.19 million cars and trucks that it sold in 2012.
In the United States, Chrysler’s market share rose to 11.4 percent for the year, up from 11.2 percent in 2012.
Mr. Marchionne said Chrysler had set a target of 2.8 million vehicle sales this year, and expected to earn $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion in net income.
