On June 10, 2009, Chrysler Group LLC emerged from a government-sponsored bankruptcy wedded to Italian automaker Fiat SpA.
Few thought the marriage would last. Chrysler had just died on the operating table and was only revived with a large infusion of taxpayer dollars. Fiat was still on the mend from its own near-death experience. Neither company was exactly known for building world-class cars and trucks.
Adam Jonas, an auto analyst with Morgan Stanley in London, summed up the prevailing thinking at the time.
"Fiat-Chrysler probably won't make a new car together and won't do anything significant together," Jonas told The Detroit News back in 2009.
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