Fiat's five-year plan

Full integration with the Chrysler Group and a diverged industrial business unit were two of the many foundations revealed yesterday with the unveiling of Fiat’s five-year business plan.

The ambitious plan, announced by CEO Sergio Marchionne in Italy, will see Fiat automobile operations – which counts Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati, Chrysler and Ferrari among its stable of auto properties – remain under the fold of the original company while the industrial and marine units split.

Fiat Industrial produces and sells construction machinery, trucks and tractors and remains a profitable interest for the company. The company believes diverging interests will keep the auto sector light and limber.

“We can finish the [separation] project within six months,” an optimistic Marchionne told reporters yesterday.

Closer to home, Fiat’s plans for Chrysler’s domestic nameplates were a little less detailed. Marchionne said the Jeep brand would be marketed globally and that Dodge would stand alone as American brand focused on performance.

Marchionne did say he expects the combined Chrysler-Fiat organization to hit six million units sold worldwide by 2014.