Chrysler brand and Group sales boss CEO Peter Fong revealed this week that when the Fiat 500 (seen above on the "Overland" tour) arrives on sale in the United States at the end of next year its retailing will be managed by dealers from the Chrysler division.

Chrysler brand and Group sales boss CEO Peter Fong revealed this week that when the Fiat 500 arrives on sale in the United States at the end of next year its retailing will be managed by dealers from the Chrysler division.

Fong, who also this week revealed that the Chrysler brand will in future be pushed upmarket towards a luxury position, said the 500 will most likely be sold in a boutique format by a selected number of Chrysler dealerships through placement in a dedicated zone located in their existing showrooms. The news came during a report in Automotive News Europe.

The North American sold 500 will be built in Chrysler's factory at Toluca in Mexico, most probably replacing the existing decade-old PT Cruiser which recently won a short production reprieve, with assembly set to get underway at the tail end of 2010 or in very early 2011. The 500 will be the only Fiat model currently projected to be sold in the U.S. and the limited volumes expected to be sold will preclude Chrysler from setting up  dedicated dealer network. Since the Chrysler Group emerged from bankruptcy nearly four fifths of its dealerships sell all three brands (Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep) and one of the key objectives of the deep dealer restructuring that occurred during the court-led Chapter 11 process was to cull dealers that sold either one or two of the Group's three brands.

Mexico has been chosen as the first assembly location in the world outside the car's home factory at Tychy in Poland to build the 500 as it has a free trade agreement with Brazil, which will be a key market. The two countries represent half the territory of Latin America and nearly 70 percent of its GDP and over the summer have been making further efforts to strengthen trade agreements. Around one-third of the 500's eventual annual production target at Toluca of 100,000 units will be targeted at Latin American markets with the key focus being Brazil where Fiat has its biggest manufacturing operation outside of Italy.

The 500 will come to the U.S. In all its formats, including the new 500C (convertible) launched in Geneva in March, and forthcoming stretched "wagon" version. Abarth brand CEO Harald Wester revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier this month that the high-performance Scorpion-branded versions will also be heading stateside to top the range although in this particluar case they will be incorporated into the wider range rather than attaining the standalone position the enjoy in Europe.