Chrysler's future lineup of products, which will be disclosed next week in the company's first major announcement since exiting bankruptcy protection more than four months ago, is expected to add two more foreign brand names to what is already a crowded U.S. market. Chrysler's Italian partner, Fiat, plans to reintroduce Americans to its namesake brand, which abandoned the United States in 1984, and Alfa Romeo, which pulled out a decade later. Those plans were confirmed by Chrysler officials who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Chrysler, whose alliance with Fiat was a condition for it to receive billions in loans from the federal government, is expected to discontinue some of its worst-selling models in favor of the more stylish and advanced Fiat and Alfa Romeo products. Among the vehicles destined for North America, the company officials said, are the tiny Fiat 500, an Alfa Romeo sport utility vehicle and a sedan based on Alfa Romeo technology to replace the midsize Chrysler Sebring. Details about Fiat's plans to bring Alfa Romeo back to the United States and to discontinue certain Chrysler models were first reported in The Wall Street Journal. The Chrysler strategy is at odds with much of the rest of the industry, which is reducing the number of brands it sells, not adding to them. General Motors, for example, is cutting its brand lineup to four: Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC and Buick. Chrysler also recently said it was splitting its largest brand, Dodge, into Dodge cars and Ram trucks, meaning that within a few years its dealerships could be selling six different brands, including Jeep. That would be three more than Chrysler offers today. 'Chrysler doesn't necessarily need more brands,' Aaron Bragman, an analyst with the research firm IHS Global Insight. 'But it could potentially accommodate more brands that are fairly unique, and Alfa Romeo is a fairly unique brand and has a very specific message. There is really nothing like Alfa Romeo in the U.S. market aside from maybe Mazda.' In fact, Bragman said, Americans could take to Fiat and Alfa Romeo more than they have recently to Chrysler and Dodge, whose sales have fallen 52 percent and 37 percent this year. 'Chrysler and Dodge are two damaged brands,' he said. By any measure, Chrysler needs help to make its products more appealing, particularly in smaller-car segments. Toyota and Honda, for example, each have two models that are individually outselling Chrysler's entire lineup of passenger cars this year. Sergio Marchionne, the chief executive of Fiat and Chrysler, is scrambling to see Chrysler through the next 18 months until the partnership between the two companies begins to bear fruit. At next week's announcement, Marchionne and other executives will also go over Chrysler's engineering and manufacturing plans as well as the company's financial goals. Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy proceedings June 10, with Fiat taking a 20 percent stake in the new company. Marchionne's profitable turnaround of Fiat propelled his successful effort to buy Chrysler with Washington's help, but he fell short in a bid to also swallow the European operations of GM last spring. While an Alfa Romeo SUV may not be the kind of vehicle envisioned by some when Chrysler and Fiat won government loans, Fiat officials said Chrysler's new offerings would have more fuel-efficient technology, whatever the size of the vehicle. The SUV would be based on the platform of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and built at the same factory in Detroit where that vehicle is assembled, a plant known as Jefferson North. The Fiat 500 is expected to be assembled at Chrysler's plant in Toluca, Mexico. Other models would likely be imported to the United States, at least initially. 'Fiat is bringing environmentally smart technology to the U.S., which Chrysler lacks, not just small-car technology,' one of the Fiat officials said. 'The future isn't about SUVs; it will just be a niche. We have to think about the whole range.' Since the Fiat-Chrysler partnership was announced early this year, executives from Chrysler's headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., have traveled to Fiat's styling center in Turin, Italy, preparing to update the interiors and trims of many familiar Chrysler models. Plans to introduce the Fiat 500, as well as the compact Alfa Romeo MiTo and the midsize Milano have been in the works since the spring. In addition, the models to be announced over the next five years are expected to offer diesel technology, which consumes less fuel and has been popular in Europe. Fiat's diesel technology has long been among the best in world, and the company already worked with GM to develop a successful diesel engine for Opel earlier this decade. While an Alfa Romeo SUV or crossover could stir enthusiasm in car circles, reviving the Chrysler brand with a jolt of Italian style will be a much more difficult challenge for Marchionne, according to analysts. 'I'm sure Americans love Italian suits. Whether they love Italian cars is yet to be seen,' said Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst with Credit Suisse in London. 'The product won't be a problem. It's the brand perception,' he said. 'It took Volkswagen a long time and they're still not where they want to be, while the French struggled and eventually left.' 