With the clock rapidly ticking down on a 30 day deadline to forge a deal with Chrysler, Fiat's senior management, led by CEO Sergio Marchionne, are in Michigan now hammering away at the many details of what is set to be one of the auto industry's most groundbreaking deals. As well as Marchionne, the Fiat team that is in Chrysler's Auburn Hills headquarters includes Head of Business Development Alfredo Altavilla who is leading the Italian carmaker's negotiations.

US President Obama announced on Monday afternoon that he would allow Chrysler and Fiat a 30 day period to put together a workable deal. He dismissed the other options on the table saying that "Chrysler is not viable as a stand-alone company" and telling the ailing carmaker that the US Treasury Department wouldn't provide any further loans after the end of April if they couldn't come up with a feasible plan with Fiat. Chrysler is currently surviving on a US$4 billion government loan and successfully striking a deal with Fiat could pave the way to receiving up to a further US$6 billion in aid.

Following Obama's announcement on Monday afternoon Marchionne and Fiat senior managers flew to the US that evening. Over the next few days they will work with Chrysler management and will meet with the carmaker's union leaders and creditors. The biggest sticking point to forging an alliance is to turn union retiree and healthcare cash liabilities and debts to its creditor banks into shareholder equity. These negotiations have made little headway through the last few months and analysts are concerned that the theoretically no cash deal could end up costing Fiat more than it expected.

Fiat and Chrysler announced their proposed alliance in January with Fiat providing its technology and platforms in exchange for a 35 percent stake in the US carmaker. However the auto task force has said that this is initially more likely to be around 20 percent, rising to 35 percent through 5 percent increments as targets that will focus around the Treasury Department loans being repaid have been met. In recent days Marchionne has described the auto task force as being "tough but fair".