The net profit of 1.021 billion euros ($1.243 billion) was below the average of 1.058 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, but investors nonetheless pushed the carmaker's shares up 2.6 percent in afternoon trading in Milan.
The Italian-American carmaker sold just over 1.2 million vehicles in January through March, a five percent increase compared with the first quarter last year.
Revenue dipped by 2 percent, however, to 27.027 billion euros, which also fell short of the expectations of analysts.
The firm said changes in exchange rates hurt revenue, and if exchange rates had held constant revenue would have increased by 9 percent.
The gain in the value of the euro versus the dollar lowered the value of sales made in the US when converted into the single currency.
The carmaker posted record results last year, but in January adopted a cautious outlook for 2018.
It plans to release a new strategic outlook on June 1, with its chief executive Sergio Marchionne set to step down next year.