The big picture was mixed though and positives included net revenues edging up 4% to 28,993 billion euros (from 27,925 billion euros in Q2 2017) and worldwide shipment of vehicles up 6% to 1,301,000 units (up from 1,225,000 in Q2 2017) thanks mainly to sales increases in North and South America although analysts pounced on FCA’s continuing failure to gain a ground in China, the world’s biggest market after a highly negative second quarter on this market.

However, FCA now usefully sits on 456 million euros in cash, finally turning its position positive after holding industrial debts of 1.313 billion euros at the end of the first quarter. That had long been a key objective of former CEO Sergio Marchionne – and his passing away yesterday cast a dark shadow over the announcement of the results. It all leaves the new CEO Mike Manley – installed in the top job by the board just five days ago – with an awful lot on his plate to fix and a lot to digest and decide as he formulates his strategy to go forward.

Around the globe the good news in the second quarter was focused almost entirely on the Americas with the NAFTA (U.S., Mexico and Canada) region enjoying a record Q2 result with revenues of 17,359 billion euros, up half a billion euros and 9%, adjusted EBIT of 1.397 billion euros (up 4%) and with an 8.0% margin (down by 0.4%) which is expected to rise to 10% by the end of this year. The region accounted for fourth-fifths of FCA's profits.

Total shipments of 676,000 units was up by one hundred thousand units and that was mainly due to three Jeep models, the Wrangler, Cherokee and Compass, as well as Dodge Journey, that partially offset by decreased volumes of Ram trucks due to a planned shutdown in order to retool for next generation model but there were higher shipments of the new Ram 1500, with continued improvement in resolving launch issues.

The flat profitability versus the sales spike was put down to new model launch costs and the negative impact of negative foreign exchange movements.

Shipments in Latin America meanwhile were up by 12,000 units and 14% to 150,000 units (with 132,000 units coming from Brazil alone) while adjusted EBIT in Latin America during Q2 was up by 68% to 101 million euros year-on-year (from 60 million euros in Q2 2017), with margins up to 4.8%. Net revenues in Latin America were up 5% to 2.1 billion euros and the adjusted EBIT margin was up by 1.8% to 4.8%.

In Latin America FCA continued as the market leader in Brazil (when combining passenger car and LCVs) with market share up to 18.4% while in Argentina it was also up to 13.7%. FCA put the increase down to demand for the Fiat Argo hatchback, launched a year ago and Cronos sedan, which debuted earlier this year, as well as rapidly increasing demand for all the Pernambuco-built Jeeps but it was partially offset by several discounted models, notably the Palio family.

Net revenues in Latin America increased primarily due to higher shipments, a more positive mix and net pricing, partially offset by negative foreign exchange effects while adjusted EBIT increased mainly as a result of higher net revenues, partially offset by higher industrial costs including inefficiencies from the truckers' strike, advertising costs related to new vehicles and negative foreign exchange translation effects.

That’s where the good news ended though and in the EMEA region, primarily comprising of Europe (EU28+EFTA), during Q2 shipments of 396,000 vehicles was flat compared tothe second quarter of last year with Jeep and Alfa Romeo gaining ground to offset declines at Fiat and Lancia. Market share was down to 6.9% and LCVs down to 12.5%. Adjusted EBIT was down 12 million euros to 188 million euros and margins down to 3%.

Where it got really ugly was in China were FCA’s inability to make any inroads continued and shipments for the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region during Q2 slumped 34% from 80,000 units during the second quarter of last year to just 53,000 units for Q2 2018 as the failure of its latest attempt to grab a foothold in the world’s biggest car market, this time through the Jeep brand, continued.

Total revenues from the APAC region fell from 976 million euros in Q2 2017 to 652 million euros in Q2 2018 while adjusted EBIT went from a positive 44 million euros in Q2 2017 to a negative 98 million euros in Q2 2018. EBIT margin was a negative 15% for the quarter just gone.

FCA spun this away by saying that: “Combined shipments [were] down primarily due to lower shipments from the China JV as a result of market decreases, particularly in the SUV segments, and increased competition from domestic brands in China. Net revenues decrease[d] due to lower consolidated volumes, [an] unfavorable mix and pricing actions resulting from announced changes to China import duties [and a] decrease in adjusted EBIT [was] primarily due to lower net revenues and lower results from China JV, partially offset by lower marketing costs.” The Jeep Grand Commander was launched in the Asia-Pacific region during the second quarter.

Meanwhile, the sports/luxury Maserati brand (which is itemised separately in FCA’s quarterly financial results) suffered a torrid second quarter with shipments down from 13,200 in Q2 2017 to 7,800 for Q2 2018. Net revenues were down from 1,074 million euros in Q2 last year to just 568 million euros for the last quarter while adjusted EBIT was completely wiped out (152 million euros in Q2 2017 to 2 million euros in Q2 2018) and that meant adjusted EBIT margins were down from 14.2% in Q2 2017 to 0.4% in Q2 2018.

About Maserati, the financial results noted: “Shipments down, primarily reflecting impact from import duty reductions in China applicable from July 1 delaying wholesale and retail buying decisions [and] net revenues decrease primarily due to lower volumes and unfavorable mix due to China volume reduction. Adjusted EBIT decrease primarily due to lower volumes and negative pricing in connection with China duty reduction.”

However, while a tailing off in demand in China was primarily caused by buyers holding off on purchasing the Levante SUV, Maserati's sales fell across most of its key markets worldwide. The "Trident" is trying to address a poor product mix for the Levante with several new versions that have been launched during the first half of this year and that might help to give the brand some traction on the more mature markets during the rest of the year. With the relaunch of the brand currently in murky waters it remains to be seen how the new CEO Manley prioritises this amongst the many other issues he has to face.

In the components sector, which comprises of three companies – Magneti Marelli, Comau and Teksid – that FCA doesn’t breakout data for separately, the picture was flat with net revenues of 2,609 million down 45 million on Q2 last year and adjusted EBIT unchanged at 130 million.

FCA said that Magneti Marelli was up and Comau down, and again blamed currency fluctuations, saying in the Q2 results that: “Net revenues (for Magneti Marelli, Comau and Teksid were) slightly down from [the] prior year, with higher volumes at Magneti Marelli more than offset by negative foreign exchange translation effects” and that adjusted EBIT was flat compared to the prior year “with higher volumes at Magneti Marelli offset by negative price impacts at Comau and negative foreign exchange translation effects.”

Marchionne pencilled in Magneti Marelli as the latest piece of silverware to sell off so it remains to be seen if Manley and the new management team continue this strategy or decide instead to hold onto this long-term positive contributor to the company’s bottom line.

There were no new model launches for FCA during Q2 although the Italian-built Jeep Renegade facelift (now fitted with the Latin American “Firefly” engine) was presented in Europe and the 7-seater Jeep Grand Commander SUV also started to be unloaded onto European buyers. Maserati tweaked its model range for the MY19 and there were some new special editions for the Fiat 500 range during the quarter as well as the repositioning of entry-level Fiat models in Brazil.

That difficult picture means FCA’s forecasts were trimmed for the rest of the year sending the Italian-American company’s shares into a tailspin, dropping down as much as 11% in yesterday afternoon trading in Europe.

Net revenue forecast for the full year was lowered to 115-118 billion euros (previously 125 billion euros), adjusted EBIT was reduced to 7.5-8 billion euros (previously 8.7 billion euros), adjusted net profit guidance however remained unchanged at 5 billion euros and finally net industrial cash projections for the full year were dropped by a quarter to 3 billion euros.

FCA's two main rivals on the US market, GM and Ford, both reported their own Q2 earnings yesterday and they also painted a very difficult picture which emphasises the tricky conditions for all carmakers this year.