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FCA’s North American profit margins, which were 7.9 per cent for the quarter, could rival General Motors’ 12.1 per cent range after the company moves out of small passenger car production, he said. “Our expectation is that concentration (of pickup and SUV production) will give us the possibility to get to very close to those numbers,” he said. “They were exceptional results; I think they should be complimented for an outstanding delivery in Q2 and I think we have every expectation after this realignment we should be getting very close if not dead on those numbers.”

FCA posted a second-quarter net profit of US$353 million, a 25 per cent jump over the same period in 2015. Total revenue dropped two per cent to US$31 billion. Meanwhile, General Motors said its earnings more than doubled in the second quarter to $2.9 billion, while Ford Motor will deliver its second-quarter earnings report before the market opens Thursday.

Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at AutoTrader, said FCA is responding to growing consumer preference for SUVs and pickups over passenger cars.

“Cars are down to 40 per cent of the U.S. market, Krebs said. “That’s a huge shift. Last year, compact SUVs, like the Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4, became the No. 1-selling segment.”

It’s a similar trend in Canada. During the first six months of the year, Canadian consumers purchased 989,177 new vehicles, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. Of that total, 642,593 were new light trucks — an increase of 14.5 per cent over last year; sales of cars, meanwhile, fell 6.8 per cent.