Fiat saw sales fall 4%, but its Alfa Romeo brand saw sales collapse by a third.
Whatever it takes to re-establish Alfa Romeo in the United States, Marchionne seems willing to do.
FORBES: Alfa Romeo Will Be Back In U.S. Sooner Rather Than Later
But Marchionne had a grand plan in mind: By saving Chrysler, he could also save Alfa Romeo.
The Dart, based on Fiat's Alfa Romeo technology, has received favorable early reviews from car and consumer magazines.
Mr Marchionne wants to align it with Fiat's other premium brands, such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati.
More than 20 new models are planned in the next three years for the Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands.
Marchionne has long wanted to bring the Alfa Romeo brand to the United States, but has lacked the capital resources to do so.
Those who buy Mercedes are buying German engineering and those who buy an Alfa Romeo Italian design, regardless of where the car is built.
So under the new plan, seven new, previously unannounced vehicles will be launched in 2015 and 2016 as well as a half-dozen new, unidentified Alfa Romeo models.
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One of them said that he had escaped from the Gold Base by driving his car an Alfa Romeo convertible that Haggis had sold him through a wooden fence.
Workers who may be affected by the Fiat closures staged a small protest by blocking a motorway near the Alfa Romeo factory in Arese, close to Milan.
Mr Jobs announced this week, for instance, that Mercedes, Nissan, Volvo, Scion, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari will join BMW and offer iPod controls in their steering wheels.
Fiat's real interest would be to team up with the sporty saloons that its own Alfa Romeo brand struggles to match, for all their flair and style.
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Its brand is not yet strong enough to absorb more than a couple of slip-ups, and the re-launch of Alfa Romeo in America will be difficult and expensive.
From an American perspective, Alfa Romeo is one of the wild cards that got thrown into the deck when Fiat acquired the carcass of Chrysler from the U.S. government in 2009.
FORBES: Alfa Romeo Will Be Back In U.S. Sooner Rather Than Later
Though the brand is well-known for its Formula One racing heritage (and its starring role alongside Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate) Alfa Romeo has been losing money for years, he said.
Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne told Reuters at the Detroit auto show that Fiat plans to introduce an Alfa Romeo 4C sports car to the U.S. market late this year.
FORBES: Alfa Romeo Will Be Back In U.S. Sooner Rather Than Later
Such a deal would help Chrysler bring badly needed small cars into its showrooms while helping Fiat move into the American market with the Alfa Romeo brand and an update of its Fiat 500.
The team championship was introduced in 1958, which is why Alfa Romeo (winners of the 1950 title with Alberto Ascari) and Mercedes-Benz (winners in 1954 with Juan Manuel Fangio) are not classed as debut winners.
With iron this then falls off allowing the layer of iron underneath to undergo the same process, fall off and before you know it your Alfa Romeo sports car is in little pieces on the driveway.
Second, the Mediobanca-Berlusconi plan would involve the possible participation of (not strikingly Italian) Volkswagen, which would (it is said) take a 39% stake in a company grouping premium brands such as Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo, all now part of the Fiat stable.
Based on an enlarged version of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta a fact that, in the long view of things, seems positively surreal the Dart is decently stanced and nicely detailed, with a number of visual quotes from Dodge other products, including the Charger's "racetrack" taillight assembly and dual exhausts.
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The plan is to grow the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands globally and flesh out the Jeep lineup, including the addition of a new small SUV, while limiting the Fiat brand to derivatives of its 500 and Panda small cars and scaling back its struggling Lancia brand.
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