About 400 Chrysler Group LLC dealers from across the United States are expected to gather at the Detroit Institute of Arts for an intensive session intended to help them decide whether to make the investment needed to sell the Fiat and Alfa brands, The Detroit News reported.

A pillar of the success of the partnership between Chrysler and Fiat SpA, which was formed in June 2009 when the Auburn Hills automaker emerged from bankruptcy, was that the two companies would develop vehicles together and take advantage of their respective distribution networks to sell each other's products.

Fiat has a strong dealer network in Europe and South America and already has started selling Chrysler's vehicles abroad.

The Italian automaker stopped selling Fiats here in 1983, and ceased mainstream Alfa Romeo sales in 1995. Sales continue of the more exotic Ferrari and Maserati brands and the low-volume Alfa Romeo 8C sports car.

Fiat will return to the U.S. market in December with a North American version of the tiny Fiat 500. It will be produced at Chrysler's Toluca, Mexico, plant, which will make about 120,000 of A-segment-sized cars annually. That output will be split between North America and South America.

The Alfa brand will return with a mid-size car and crossover in 2012, followed by a larger SUV and luxury sedan.

Dealers from 119 select U.S. cities will be briefed Monday on vehicles in Fiat's five-year plan.

Sergio Marchionne, chief executive for both Chrysler and Fiat, will not attend.

Presenters will include Laura Soave, head of the Fiat brand for North America; and Peter Grady, Chrysler vice president of Network Development & Fleet.

Including Chrysler staff, about 600 people are expected to attend, said Chrysler spokesman Ralph Kisiel.

Dealers are paying their own travel costs but Chrysler is providing ground transportation and food.