Fiat's performance in the second quarter of the year is in line with the targets set by management, CEO Sergio Marchionne said on Tuesday.
''The second quarter is in line with our expectations and we continue to mantain our objectives for 2008,'' he said.
''April was a good month for us in terms of market share. Sales in general will continue to be weak in May but we should do well,'' Marchionne added.
Turning his attention to Fiat's truck division Iveco, the CEO said that more than America, Fiat was focusing its attention on Russia.
''The American market is difficult, for this reason Iveco is looking towards Russia. We are currently considering where to move in and with what timetable,'' he explained.
''The Russian market is expanding and we don't want to miss this opportunity. The US remains one of our goals, but we need to be careful because the market is not going well there,'' the Fiat boss added.
In regard to recent friction with Italian unions, Marchionne said ''I'm ready to put everything on the table. We need to grow and, if possible, we want to do so on the Italian market. But everyone is going to have to do their part and overcome old mentalities''.
''What we need to do is to pinpoint common goals and move forward. What is important is not to miss the opportunities which exist in Italy,'' he added.
Fiat last month was able to boost its sales and market share despite a slump in the new car market in Italy.
Overall new car sales in Italy in April declined by 2.86% over the same month last year - after plummeting 18.76% in March and falling 3.9% in February and 7.26% in January - but Fiat was able to reverse a three-month decline in sales, seeing them climb by 1.43%.
Fiat sales fell 20.6% in March, 8% in February and 6.57% in January.
Fiat's market share in Italy rose last month to 33.56%, its highest since January 2002, compared to 32.14% in April 2007 and 30.9% in March of this year.
