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For years, three of the largest auto manufacturers have been based out of the United States. These three auto makers are General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. General Motors produces vehicles under the names Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and others while Ford owns Lincoln and small stakes in Mazda and Aston Martin. The third company, Chrysler, produces Jeep, Dodge and the recent Ram truck spin off.

General Motors did not find itself in such financial trouble and eventually paid back all of the federal stimulus money and is now back on its feet, running strongly. However, Chrysler, a much smaller car manufacturer, needed additional help and revenue. This is where Fiat, an Italian automaker, came into play.

Fiat produced cars mainly in Europe and small sectors around the world but had not introduced a vehicle to the United States in decades. The company saw its chance to enter the North American market if it purchased part of the Chrysler company. By doing so the company helped increase the standing of the company and eventually push Chrysler out of bankruptcy (although it still owes a considerable amount to the United States federal government). Now, Fiat is looking to purchase the rest of the Chrysler company, potentially turning the 'big three' as the car manufacturers in the United States are referred to, to the 'big two.

As of right now, Fiat has lined up $10 billion in order to purchase the rest of Chrysler , it wants to purchase the remaining 41.5 percent of Chrysler from the UAW (United Auto Workers) union in order to refinance both Fiat's and Chrysler's debt, allowing it to obtain a reduced interest rate and potentially save millions of dollars paying off the loan. Nothing has been set in stone yet, and a Delaware court is currently looking over the value and is attempting to determine the overall value and price of the remaining ownership of Chrysler.

There is no guarantee Fiat will be able to purchase the rest of Chrysler though. Last year, when Fiat attempted to buy some of the available shares from the UAW trust, the trust refused to sell at the price Fiat offered them. At first, Fiat offered a sum of $155 million for 3.3 percent of the company, and then increased the offer to $198 million. However, the administrators of the UAW trust said it believed the stock to be work twice the final offering price. Right now, Fiat is looking to borrow money in order to purchase the remainder of the Chrysler stock, as most likely it would see a credit rating drop if it used its own financial assets to purchase Chrysler. Currently, Fiat has around $14.4 billion at its disposal.

The selling off of major American companies has proven nothing new over the past several years, due to the increased value of the euro to the American dollar (although the value of the dollar is climbing with the extended financial problems running throughout Europe). Around the time of the automotive buyout in North America, InBev, a Belgium company, purchased Anheuser-Bush, the largest beer manufacturer in the world. However, for Fiat to obtain Chrysler, it needs the deal to go through sooner than later, otherwise the value is likely to increase in overall price.