Sergio Marchionne likes to be at the centre of attention and he got his wish in Detroit this week.
马尔基翁内喜欢成为关注的焦点。上周在底特律，他实现了自己的愿望。
　　
When I first came across the chief executive of Chrysler and Fiat at the auto show, he was surrounded by photographers and was showing off a Fiat 500 to Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives.
我第一次在车展上遇到克莱斯勒-菲亚特首席执行官马尔基翁内时，他正在向美国众议院发言人南佩洛西展示菲亚特500，周围都是摄影师。
　　
Mrs Pelosi had good reason to pay attention since the US government has staked $12bn (€8.3bn, ￡7.4bn) on his ability to resurrect a company that Barack Obama's auto task force decided was unviable on its own. Without him, it might not have paid for the smallest of the Big Three to travel through Chapter 11.
佩洛西完全有理由关注，因为美国政府拿出了120亿美元，押注马尔基翁内有能力让克莱斯勒起死回生。克莱斯勒是美国汽车业三巨头中最小的一家，奥巴马的汽车特别工作组认定其无法独立生存。如果没有马尔基翁内，美国政府可能不会掏钱让它走出破产保护。
　　
A lot rides on whether he can repeat his trick at Fiat, where he restored a failing company to stability, if not to parity with global rivals. “Our reputation and credibility is at stake. We've put the whole damn thing on the line, including my life,” he told me.
克莱斯勒的重振，在很大程度上取决于马尔基翁内能否重现他在菲亚特展示的技巧——即使不能和国际对手势均力敌，他至少让菲亚特恢复了稳定。他告诉我：“我们的声望和信誉处于危险之中。我们已经投入了一切，包括我的生命。”
　　
The jumper-wearing Mr Marchionne is not given to self-doubt. In a recent speech, he quoted Machiavelli's precept that “a return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man”. He regards himself as that man.
身穿套头衫的马尔基翁内不喜欢自我怀疑。在最近的一次演讲中，他引述了马基雅弗利(Machiavelli)的格言：“共和国恢复最高原则有时就是由一个人的简单美德造成的。”他认为自己就是那样一个人。
　　
His chances of success, however, depend on how you define the target. If it is to stabilise Chrysler, refurbish its line-up, repay $7bn of government money and refloat it with an initial public offering in, say, 2011 (none of them trivial achievements), I reckon he will probably manage it.
然而，他能否取得成功取决于你如何界定目标。如果目标是让克莱斯勒恢复稳定、重整生产线、偿还70亿美元政府资金以及在，比如说2011年，通过首次公开发行重新上市（这些成就没有一件是微不足道的），我认为他可能会实现目标。
　　
If, however, success is defined in his own terms – promoting Chrysler-Fiat into the premier league of global volume carmakers alongside Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen and others – I doubt it. His empire is too much of a mish-mash of domestic brands to conquer the world.
不过，如果用他自己的话来定义成功——将克莱斯勒-菲亚特发展成与福特、丰田、大众等公司比肩的全球量产汽车制造商超级联盟中的一员，那么我对他的成功表示怀疑。他的王国是一个本国品牌大杂烩，难以征服世界。
　　
Mr Marchionne has altered the mood at Chrysler, whose share of the US car market has been declining since the late 1990s, battered first by a disastrous takeover by Daimler and then a period owned by Cerberus Capital, a private equity firm, which he calls “the Twilight Zone”.
马尔基翁内已改变了克莱斯勒的气氛。上世纪90年代末以来，克莱斯勒的美国汽车市场份额一直在下滑——打击接踵而至，先是受到戴姆勒灾难性收购，然后又有一段时间为私人股本公司赛伯乐资产管理公司所拥有——他称之为“模糊地带”。
　　
It has a bad product portfolio, with not only the Chrysler brand but Dodge skewed towards the US, and trucks and vans. Its passenger cars suffer from poor design and quality problems, none being recommended by Consumer Reports, although Jeep is still a good property.
克莱斯勒的产品组合很糟糕——克莱斯勒品牌和道奇都向美国倾斜，还有卡车和货车。它的乘用车设计拙劣，质量低下，没有一款车型得到了《消费者报告》的推荐，不过吉普品牌仍然是一项优良的资产。
　　
Meanwhile, Ford in particular is showing signs of a revival, having based its new Focus car on design and technology from its European arm, and selling the model across the world. Even the accident-prone General Motors has much stronger international reach and is bringing out a global range of cars, including its Aveo and Cruze models.
与此同时，福特尤其显示出复兴的迹象，新款福克斯车型采用了来自欧洲部门的设计和技术，在全球销售。即使是命运多舛的通用汽车，国际化程度也比克莱斯勒高很多，并在全球推出了一系列车型，包括雪佛兰乐聘和科鲁兹。