Sergio Marchionne Email To Workers
WWJ has recieved a copy of Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's email to workers, thanking them for their part in the company's 2011 profit, Chrysler's first reported net income since 1997.
Dear Colleagues,
For the second straight year, we have delivered on the ambitious financial targets we set as part of the five-year plan that we revealed to the world on Nov. 4, 2009. In the results that we announced today, we posted net income of $225 million in the fourth quarter, and full-year net income of $183 million. We also reported a modified operating profit of $508 million in Q4 2011, and $2 billion for the total year.
We posted a net profit for the year even as we booked a loss of $551 million to pay off all of our U.S. and Canadian government loans with interest, six years ahead of schedule. This repayment justified the faith placed in us by those who courageously stood by Chrysler in our darkest hours. It also freed us to move forward to chart our own destiny in partnership with Fiat.
Our net revenue in the fourth quarter was $15.1 billion, representing a 41 percent increase from the same period the year before, and full-year net revenue came to $55 billion. We ended the fourth quarter with $9.6 billion in cash, bringing total available liquidity to $10.9 billion.
The revamping of our product portfolio drove these results. We not only introduced 16 all-new or significantly refreshed vehicles to the market in just 19 months, but we also did it with a quality of execution that was far beyond any conventional expectation. Our worldwide vehicle sales were up 28 percent in the fourth quarter versus a year earlier, and for the full year grew 22 percent from 2010. We shipped two million vehicles in 2011, a 26 percent increase from the year-before total.
Based on the Company's 2011 achievements, I am pleased to inform you that a performance award payment will be made to all eligible salaried and represented employees.
This is a reward that you have earned. The more difficult the task, the more satisfying it is to overcome all obstacles. You have been to hell and back, and you defied predictions of our demise. Your efforts rewrote the history that so many naysayers had forecast.
As we move forward with Fiat, let's remain flexible in order to continue to achieve and take advantage of changing conditions while maintaining the same high level of passion and integrity that has brought us the measure of success we have had so far.
We have set an example of resilience, and the numbers announced today are evidence that our comeback is real. In bringing Chrysler up from the darkest depths, we have shown that the only difference between the possible and the impossible is that the impossible has just never been done before.
Now it's time to stay steadfast on our path, guided by the same commitment and same values that we have used to steer toward a better destiny.
Make tough, informed decisions; hold yourself and others accountable; and together we will write yet another successful chapter in our history.
I am proud to be with you in the reconstruction of a great Chrysler.
