Chrysler's coming product offensive

    And he publicly talks about the number of cars that Chrysler sells to fleets with a guaranteed repurchase price -- a widely abused industry practice. He says it is only a fraction of its total fleet business, which he says is in line with industry practice of roughly 25% of total sales.

    Marchionne appears to have Chrysler aligned toward the right goals and focused on results. Having been through bankruptcy, its balance sheet is clean and its costs are under control. It can operate profitably at just 74% capacity.

    Marchionne figures Chrysler needs to sell 1.65 million cars this year in order to make money -- a figure that should be well within reach, barring economic cataclysm.

    And despite his manic work schedule -- running two troubled automakers on two continents -- he keeps his sense of humor.

    Asked by one analyst how he get Chrysler to 10% U.S. market share (it is currently at 9.1%), he replied: "Work really hard."