Chrysler Group LLC has stemmed the pace at which it uses cash after emerging from bankruptcy June 10 as a slimmer company, Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said.

Chrysler, which reorganized around what it considered its best assets and $6 billion in fresh financing from the US and Canadian governments, went through $9.6 billion in cash in 2008. Marchionne, who declined to say how quickly the US carmaker is consuming cash, said he isn’t seeking another partner in Europe or Asia, even after Fiat lost out to Magna International Inc. in a bid for General Motors Corp.’s Opel division in Germany.

Marchionne, 57, is focusing on fixing Chrysler after two previous owners failed. He’s cutting inventory and adding new platforms and engine technology to redefine the product portfolio. Turin, Italy-based Fiat bought 20 percent of the new Chrysler formed from the bankruptcy. Combined, they’re the world’s sixth-largest auto manufacturer, with annual sales of 4.5 million vehicles.

The CEO, who is pushing consolidation in the car industry because he expects only six global players to thrive in the long run, said he wants to disclose Chrysler’s financial information even though the automaker, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, near Detroit, isn’t listed on any stock market.

Marchionne said he’s working with the US Treasury to decide what information Chrysler might report and when to release it.

By the end of the month, Marchionne wants to decide how the partnership will manage its Dodge and Alfa Romeo brands, which he sees as American and European counterparts.

“The level of competition between these two brands is tremendous because they are both going after the same customer,” Marchionne said. “Dodge is the American muscle car, while Alfa Romeo is the European muscle car. How we dovetail these two brands is very important.”

One solution might be to sell Alfa Romeo models under the Dodge brand in the US and Dodge cars as Alfa Romeos in Europe, Marchionne said. Executives at both Fiat and Chrysler have said they will build a new vehicle in the US based on the mechanical underpinnings of Alfa Romeo’s 149-model car that hasn’t gone on sale yet.

Chrysler should be able to take control of its European dealer network by September, Marchionne said. Certain operations are still controlled by Daimler AG, which owned Chrysler from 1998 to 2006, said Gualberto Ranieri, a Chrysler spokesman.

Source: Bloomberg