Fiat Chrysler unveils new business plan

While most analysts call the target ambitious, they agree Jeep is the only truly global brand currently in Fiat-Chrysler's portfolio and its best opportunity to expand in Asia, the fastest-growing global car market but also the group's blind spot.

Fiat Chrysler's joint venture in China, Jeep's largest market outside the United States, also plans to manufacture three Jeep models locally, with the first due in late 2015.

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While Jeep is solidly a rising star within the Fiat Chrysler family, plans for Alfa Romeo are less clear.

Marchionne plans to revamp the luxury Maserati and upmarket Alfa Romeo marques to follow bigger rivals such as Volkswagen by building global brands and strengthening its position in the fast-growing and high-margin market for premium cars.

He is expected to promise at least six new Alfa models, including premium-priced sedans and SUVs, with the first to hit the market by early 2016. Marchionne is betting on Alfa because he believes it can deliver the global profile that mass market brand Fiat cannot and far greater sales volumes than Maserati.

But analysts said considerable time and billions of euros will be needed to erase the weak quality reputation for a brand that has been kept on life support for years.

Maserati's performance last year was encouraging, with trading profit tripling and deliveries doubling.

Meanwhile, several attempts at reviving Alfa have stalled, leaving just three models and sales dropping by more than half over the past decade to 74,000 cars last year, far below a 500,000 target Marchionne envisaged for 2014 in a past plan.

The success, or otherwise, of an Alfa Romeo renaissance will be central to whether Fiat survives a difficult European market, allowing the group to fill idled plants in Italy and reinstate thousands of workers placed on temporary layoff schemes.

Marchionne's challenges are huge, from finding the money to fund the plan to implementing it in a cut-throat industry where demand is still subdued in Europe and is now flagging in some major emerging markets such as Brazil.