Fiat's profits taken before interest, taxes and one-off items for the third quarter came in at 851 million euros, more than three times the same period last year (256 million euros). Excluding the Chrysler Group, trading margins for the quarter rose to 3.3 percent (from 3.0 percent).

Net industrial debt is proving a headache for Fiat and it rose to 5.8 billion euros, sharply up from 3.5 billion euros at the end of June. Analysts had predicted that debt would rise to just over 4 billion euros. This hike was partly due to several payments that Fiat made to the U.S. Treasury Department concerning the acquisition of Chrysler Group stock. At the same time dealer stock decreased for both Fiat Group Automobiles (-3 percent) and Chrysler Group (-12 percent).

Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) posted revenues of 6.52 billion euros for the third quarter, roughly similar to the same period last year (6.55 billion euros), after delivering 460,400 vehicles, which was down 4.3 percent year-on-year. Light Commercial Vehicle deliveries were up by 5.4 percent to 98,800 units while passenger cars were down 6.6 percent to 365,600 units due to an ageing model portfolio and the carmaker's continuing overreliance on Italy.

Standing out was Lancia, up 35.7 percent year-on-year, due to the arrival of the new Ypsilon (11,000 sold in the first 3 months since its launch), Alfa Romeo was up 15 percent thanks to the continuing effect of the new Giulietta, while the Fiat Professional LCV-focused division maintained a 11.9 percent share of the European market with sales up 0.3 percent year-on-year, thanks to new engines for the Ducato which helped the large van's sales to climb 10 percent year-on-year. The Jeep brand now counts towards FGA's sales data and it doubled to 6,700 units for the quarter to account for 0.2 percent of FGA's market share. Going sharply the other way - the Fiat brand saw its European market share sink from 5.5 to 4.6 percent for the period year-on-year. While the vital B-segment Punto has gone missing in action, the new Freemont is carving out a niche and it achieved 6,400 sales for the quarter.

The European market was up 1.7 percent to 3.1 million vehicles for the period with FGA delivering 172,400 units, down 12.9 percent. FGA achieved a trading profit of 128 million euros, almost unchanged from 130 million euros during the same period last year.

In Brazil FGA continued to come under pressure, and 196,800 vehicles delivered during Q3 was down 3.4 percent against an overall market which was slightly up by 1.7 percent. FGA however maintained its overall lead of the Brazilian market from June to September but its overall share was down 1.8 percent to 21.9 percent. In Argentina FGA saw its sales rising by ten thousand units for the quarter against a market that surged by almost a third and that gave it an 11.9 percent share of the action.

The Chrysler Group meanwhile posted revenues for Q3 of 9.3 billion euros on the back of 469,000 worldwide vehicle sales - its market share in the U.S. was up 1.8 percent to 11.4 percent while in Canada it was up by 1.7 percent to 14.5 percent. Trading profit was 556 million euros, equating to a trading margin of 6.0 percent.

The Fiat Group's two niche luxury/performance brands booth had a positive third quarter. Maserati turned in revenues of 142 million euros in the third quarter, up by 6.0 percent on the same period last year after the Trident brand sold a total of 1,459 cars, up 6.7 percent on the same three month period last year when it had shifted 1,368 cars. That helped it to a trading profit of 8 million euros, equating to a trading 5.6 percent margin. Ferrari meanwhile saw revenues of 525 million euros in the third quarter, up by 7.7 year-on-year after its sold 1,588 cars which was up 13.6 percent year-on-year.