Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is aiming to turn the Italian company into one of the world's biggest automakers by working with Chrysler and taking over General Motors' main European unit, Opel.
But obstacles to the plan are huge. Fiat has only recently started to improve its international reputation, and many Italians aren't huge fans, either. Walk down any street in Italy, and it's likely that Renaults, Toyotas and Fords will be as plentiful as Fiats.
Salvatore Tropea, an auto expert for the daily La Republica, says that Marchionne envisions the new incarnation of the Turin-based automaker would have a turnover of 88 billion euros, a work force of 160,000 employees and production of 6 million cars.
The plan is hugely ambitious — all the more so because Marchionne hopes to carry it out without spending a cent.
Fiat hopes to take advantage of the auto sector crisis by securing billions in loan guarantees from the United States, Canada and various European governments.
If he succeeds, the new company would become the world's second-largest carmaker, behind Japan's Toyota.
But past experience shows that Fiat is facing an uphill battle. Cross-border mergers of automakers have not done well, and Fiat is widely seen as a small regional player with a poor track record, even on its home territory — until a few years ago.
"In my business, Fiats were always very low-risk cars, because nobody bothered to steal them," says Carlo Pietrangelli, who runs an insurance company.
As recently as 2005, Fiat was in such trouble that General Motors, which had an option to buy the company, preferred to pay a $2 billion penalty rather than take over an unreliable company with a huge debt.
But Pietrangelli, who has never owned a Fiat, acknowledges that the company has made huge progress under Marchionne's leadership.
"Fiat is now on the avant-garde in engine production. The company invented the multijet and turbo-diesel systems; they consume little and deliver a lot," he says.
Marchionne is the miracle worker who brought Fiat back from the brink, making it a profitable European leader in compact cars, selling well in Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Last week, President Obama warmly endorsed Fiat's deal with Chrysler. But now that Marchionne has his sights on GM Europe, which includes Opel, he has to win over Germany's politicians and powerful trade unions.
In an interview with the daily Bild, the Fiat CEO said he would not shut down any of Opel's four German plants, but he did say that the number of workers would have to be reduced.
German media reaction has been skeptical. The German edition of the Financial Times said three crippled firms are being joined; each of them has enough problems of its own.
But Marchionne insists that no single company can weather the current crisis in the global auto sector alone.
By merging with GM's main European operations, Fiat and Opel would both cut production and development costs and produce on the same platforms.
Marchionne says that this is "a marriage made in heaven."
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