Chrysler Group reported a second-quarter loss of $172 million US Monday a year after emerging from bankruptcy protection.

The automaker reported growing car and truck sales helped it narrow its first-quarter loss of $197 million.

Chrysler says a 22 per cent jump in sales helped push revenues up 8.2 per cent to $10.5 billion US. (Canadian Press)

Demand for cars and trucks in both Canada and the U.S. — Chrysler's primary markets — is up since the recession.

The company said a 22 per cent jump in sales helped push revenues up 8.2 per cent to $10.5 billion compared with the first quarter.

The automaker actually made a profit of $183 million from operations, but the loss resulted once all costs — including those not directly related to its primary business — were included.

This is the first time Chrysler has reported a second-quarter profit since 2007, when it made $549 million while being taken over by private-equity group Cerberus Capital Management.

It's difficult to compare Chrysler's latest quarter with the same period a year ago because Chrysler has been though a huge restructuring since then. Chrysler has been run by Italian automaker Fiat since leaving bankruptcy protection in June 2009.

The company got a boost in the last few months with the release of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the first new vehicle Chrysler has released since Fiat took over. It plans more than a dozen new and refreshed products in the last half of this year, including a revamped Chrysler 300 sedan and the U.S. debut of the Fiat 500 minicar.

Chrysler said its U.S. market share has been climbing steadily, from 8.1 per cent at the end of last year to 9.4 per cent at the end of the second quarter.

Still, Chrysler's share is down from 12.9 percent in the second quarter of 2007.

With files from The Associated Press