Automaker Stellantis posts record profit

PARIS

U.S.-European auto giant Stellantis, whose brands include Fiat, Jeep and Peugeot, reported yesterday a record net profit in the first six months of the year, boosted by higher prices for its vehicles.

The company, whose other marques include Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge and Maserati, said its profit reached 10.9 billion euros ($12 billion) in the first half, a 37-percent increase from the same period last year.

Net sales rose 12 percent to 98.4 billion euros, driven by improved performances in Europe and North America, its main markets.

"Our outstanding performance in the first half of this year supports our long-term sustainability and our ability to achieve the bold ambitions of our Dare Forward 2030 plan," chief executive Carlos Tavares said.

The Dare Forward 2030 plan is the group's goal of having electric cars account for all of its sales in Europe and 50 percent of its sales in the United States by the end of the decade.

Meanwhile, Nissan said yesterday that its net profit more than doubled in the three months to June, as a weaker yen and improving sales in Japan and North America offset declines in China.

The news came as the Japanese giant said it had agreed to invest hundreds of millions of euros in the new electric vehicle venture of France's Renault as part of a reboot of their long-running alliance.

Nissan said it saw a net profit of 105.5 billion yen ($750 million) in the fiscal first quarter, a year on year rise of 124 percent. Sales rose 37 percent to 2.9 trillion yen, even as tougher competition and a sluggish post-COVID recovery hurt its performance in China, it added.

The auto giant also raised its annual net profit forecast to 340 billion yen from its previous estimate of 315 billion yen, boosted in part by cost-cutting.

But it expects the full-year sales volume to drop 7.5 percent from its previous forecast to 3.7 million units as a result of falling sales in China.