FRANKFURT, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Fiat's truckmaking unit Iveco will return to profitability in 2004 as demand was showing signs of a turnaround next year, Iveco's head was quoted as saying in a German newspaper on Tuesday.
"We will be profitable again in 2004," Iveco's new Chief Executive Jose Maria Alapont told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in an interview released on Tuesday.
"Our order intake is edging upwards noticeably. The western European market is going to grow by two or three percent in 2004," he said.
Alapont, a former executive at auto parts maker Delphi Corp. who took over the helm at Iveco on October 1, dismissed speculation loss-mired Fiat was trying to sell Iveco.
He also said he did not see Iveco thinking about teaming up with a peer in a strategic alliance.
"We are currently not interested in strategic alliances, Alapont said. With a market share of 18 percent in western Europe, Iveco was already a leading truckmaker and had a wide product range.
Iveco made an operating loss of 2 million euros ($2.4 million) on revenues of 1.8 billion euros in the third quarter, which it put down to a drop-off in sales in a weak market.
Last year, Iveco posted a net loss of 493 million euros on sales of 9.1 billion euros.