Chrysler 2002 Annual Report Download - page 52

in the fourth quarter of the year, when the Sector launched
aDaily with a new 2.3-liter engine.
Counting its different brands, the Irisbus Group sold a total of
8,431 vehicles (-11.2%) and its market share in Western Europe
reached 27.3%. During the year Irisbus became co-leader with
the Evobus Group.
Iveco produced 361,200 engines. The decrease of 13%
compared with 2001 is due mainly to a drop in production of
light engines for noncaptive customers and weak demand in
the power generation market. Sales to noncaptive customers
accounted for 58% of total production, or 3 percentage points
less than in 2001.
In China, Naveco, a 50-50 joint venture with the Yueijin Group,
produced and sold more than 14,500 units (+10%). In India, the
Iveco licensee Ashok Leyland produced and shipped 33,450
vehicles (+9%).
In Turkey, the Otoyol licensee sold about 4,100 units (+13%).
In 2002, Iveco continued to expand its portfolio of maintenance
and repair services. It had a total of 43,500 contracts in force at
the end of 2002, or 24% more than at December 31, 2001.
Financial and service activities
In 2002, the finance companies of the Iveco Finance Group,
which provide financing and leasing services to support the
sales of Iveco products, enjoyed a growth rate comparable with
that in 2001. They signed about 34,000 contracts to finance sales
of new commercial vehicles and about 6,000 contracts for used
vehicles (+12%). Iveco Finance provided funding for 29.4%
of the vehicles sold by the Sector, about the same as in 2001.
Atotal of 105,700 financing contracts were outstanding at the
end of 2002 with a total net value of about 2.6 billion euros.
Anew company was established in Portugal in 2002.
The pool of rental vehicles operated by the Fraikin Group
(37,000 units) held relatively steady overall, as a sharp increase in
Spain (about 50%), made possible by strong growth in the long-
term rental market, was offset by a 15.8% decline in Great Britain.
The Sector’s operations that provide rental and financing
services to retail customers generated aggregate net revenues
of 1,005 million euros in 2002 (787 million euros in 2001). This
improvement reflects the consolidation of the newly-established
Iveco International Trade & Finance (211 million euros, including
190 million euros from trading activities with dealers outside
Europe).
Operating income was down 3% to 43 million euros. The 183
million euro loss before taxes (pre-tax income of 46 million
euros in 2001) of the normal business of these activities was
due mainly to the recognition of a loss incurred in connection
with the Fraikin divestiture (210 million euros).
50 Report on Operations Iveco
Sales Performance – Units Sold by Product Segment
(in thousands of units) 2002 2001 % change
Heavy 31.6 31.6 –
Medium 24.6 24.0 2.5
Light 91.6 96.2 (4.8)
Busses (*) 8.8 4.9 79.6
Divisions (**) 5.3 3.7 43.2
Total units sold 161.9 160.4 0.9
(*) In 2001, 50% interest in Irisbus + Iveco’s Bus Division.
(**) Astra, Defense and Firefighting Vehicles.