No one can accuse Sergio Marchionne, now boss of both Fiat and Chrysler, of lacking ambition. His Chrysler turnround plan involves stretching targets: more than doubling this year’s sales, paying back US government debt and reaching solid profitability, all by 2014. But Mr Marchionne’s goals for Fiat five years ago seemed similarly demanding. The fact he achieved them has given him some credibility. Investors, who have pushed up Fiat’s share price by about a quarter since September, are starting to agree.

Mr Marchionne’s targets, while challenging, are not off the scale. The assumption the US car market will rebound from 10.5m vehicles this year to 14.5m in 2014 is plausible; increasing Chrysler’s market share from 10 to 14 per cent is more testing, but reasonable if – as Fiat has done – it can get its range right. The group plans, meanwhile, to spend $23bn on new models, many using Fiat platforms. Mr Marchionne says the success of Chrysler’s previous owners, Cerberus, in cutting costs, has been underestimated. Take the slimmed-down Chrysler, mix in US and Canadian state funding, and Fiat’s refound panache, and the recipe might just work.