Marchionne offers revival plan but skeptics remain

DETROIT: Chrysler's new boss offered an ambitious outlook for the automaker, saying it would more than double sales, roll out a dozen new models built on Fiat platforms and pay back debt to US taxpayers over the next five years.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said Chrysler would break even on an operating basis in 2010 and on a net basis by 2011. He said the automaker had built up its cash since it emerged from a fast-track bankruptcy funded by the Obama administration in June.

The financial projections were the first Chrysler has offered since Marchionne took management control of the US automaker and addressed concern about the financial toll of Chrysler's continued slide in US sales.