Chrysler is courting potential foreign franchisees in its Auburn Hills, MI headquarters this week in a bid to expand its underleveraged overseas business.

DaimlerChrysler’s troubled US unit, in which buy-out group Cerberus is acquiring control for $7.4bn, said on Wednesday that it had invited 70 dealers and other possible investors from Russia, Japan, the Middle East and elsewhere to look at its vehicles and hear about its ongoing turnaround plan.