It's a tall order at Chrysler, but it has a chance. As one analyst put it this week, it just has to get selling cars now - and turn itself around. The phrase 'long haul' springs to mind.

One curious uncertainty remaining is the position of Fiat. Marchionne has said that Fiat has enough on its plate right now with Chrysler, but that doesn't quite gel with what he had to say about industry restructuring earlier this year.

I wouldn't mind betting that he is still casting his eyes around for another partner to add to the alliance after the Opel disappointment (though that is not necessarily completely dead). As it stands, a Fiat-Chrysler alliance looks like it's missing something in Europe where Marchionne has rightly concluded that there is a strategic need for a partner for Fiat that can share cost and help facilitate capacity consolidation.

Could Ford Europe yet enter the fray?

UK: Fiat-Chrysler alliance 'of little benefit to Fiat'

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