In the first fiscal year since the death of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's legendary CEO, Sergio Marchionne, the automaker announced that its third-quarter profits had dropped by 38%, anticipating the significant financial impact of a survey conducted in the United States on diesel. The Italian-American manufacturer has also announced the payment of its first dividend since its creation in 2014.

FCA said Tuesday that its profits for the third quarter had dropped to $ 640 million (564 million euros), compared with nearly $ 1.1 billion (910 million euros) in the same period last year. The loss reported corresponds to an estimated charge of $ 794 million (0.7 billion euros) related to an investigation by the US Department of Justice, alleging that the automaker had failed to disclose the software. About 104,000 pickups and SUVs running on diesel, which, according to regulators, could be similar to "neutralization devices" used by Volkswagen AG to cheat emissions tests on millions of diesel vehicles.

The company refused to allow its diesel engines to have illegal software or checking devices, but it included an estimated amount of fees in anticipation of penalties it may have to pay as a result of the federal investigation.

FCA delivered a pre-tax adjusted margin of 10.2% in North America, which continues to generate the bulk of the builder's upside. The company announced that its market share in the United States was 12.9%, up 160 basis points over the previous year, which FCA attributes to an increase in deliveries of the all-new Ram 1500 and Jeep Wrangler, as well as the new Jeep Cherokee.

The automaker said that its sale of the Magneti Marelli components division to CK Holdings Co. Ltd., worth $ 7 billion (6.2 billion euros), will allow the payment of 39, an extraordinary dividend of $ 2.2 billion (2 billion euros) at closing, which will be offered in addition annual dividend equal to 20% of the company's profit, which will be presented on the day of the 2018 financial markets in December. This is the first dividend paid to shareholders since the merger of Fiat SpA and Chrysler Group LLC almost five years ago.

The FCA sold for the first time since September 2007 more vehicles than its rival Ford Motor Co. in September 2007. Driven by sales of Jeep and Ram, the FCA has been at the center of a battle of sales of trucks and SUVs for most of 2018 with General Motors Co. and Ford.

Manley, appointed in late July to take over the reins of the company after the fall of former CEO Sergio Marchionne, was previously head of Jeep and Ram. He recently named his successors to FCA's two most profitable brands.

The new CEO told Reuters that he was planning to move all production Ram Ram vans to Michigan because it had to manufacture trucks in both places to gain market share in the truck market.

klaing @ detroitnews

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