During the Fiat-Chrysler briefings on Tuesday, Reid Bigland, head of Ram Trucks, outlined the new product plans for his brand, including confirmation that an all-new light-duty Ram 1500 will launch in 2017. From there, discussions spun off in two directions, with the main questions being: will Ram build a midsize pickup? And, following Ford's move to extensively use aluminum in its new 2015 F-150, will Chrysler be using this weight-saving material for the next round of its fullsize truck, as well?

"I think there is room for a Ram 1000," Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne (pictured above) told members of the media, saying this is a conversation the automaker has been having internally for several years now. "We've tried this ... we've actually taken it to clinics," Marchionne stated, adding that the "response has been lukewarm."

Bigland echoed Marchionne's thoughts, saying that, in theory, a midsize pickup in the NAFTA region (North America and Canada) makes sense. That said, with the company's new plans to consolidate platforms, such a vehicle would have to be unibody – not body-on-frame, like most pickups. And when asked about a Wrangler pickup – something enthusiasts would enjoy, and something that Jeep has considered before – Marchionne, along with Jeep head Michael Manley, said there are no plans to produce such a vehicle at this time.

Moving to the question of aluminum, Marchionne said that Fiat-Chrysler still has reservations about using this metal in the creation of its next Ram 1500, and that the company will be watching the F-150 launch very closely. Should the F-150 prove to be hugely successful, Marchionne said Ram is ready to respond – "if it's the right answer, Chrysler will be there."

Interestingly, the CEO remarked on several occasions that aluminum would be used elsewhere in the Fiat-Chrysler portfolio. And when asked if there's a better use of aluminum than with the new Jeep Wrangler, Marchionne very bluntly responded, "No." A Wrangler with aluminum components? Color us intrigued.

"We can do aluminum in '17," Marchionne said, regarding the Ram 1500. But every time the lightweight metal was brought up, he simply reminded us, "I have better use of aluminum in this house than a pickup truck."

"We can do aluminum in '17," Marchionne said, regarding the Ram 1500. But every time the lightweight metal was brought up, he simply reminded us, "I have better use of aluminum in this house than a pickup truck."

“On paper, that’s the right strategy,” said an analyst who asked not to be named because his bank works for Fiat. “The question for us is execution.”

Marchionne’s record is mixed on that front. Fiat Chrysler stumbled badly when it re-badged Lancia models as Chryslers in Europe.

The re-badged Chrysler 300 sold only 2,229 cars as the Lancia Thema in Europe last year, compared to an annual target of 10,000 to 12,000 units. The Chrysler Town & Country in its Lancia Voyager incarnation managed just 3,436 sales in Europe last year, down from 5,025 in 2012 and well below a target of 15,000. And then there’s the Lancia Flavia: this re-badged Chrysler 200 managed just 462 sales in 2013, down from 534 in 2012, according to figures from JATO Dynamics.

Following this week's Fiat Chrysler extravaganza, where the Italian-American manufacturer announced its plans for the next five years, the Autoblog staff was cautiously optimistic of the company's future. Investors? Not so much.

Fiat saw its shares tumble 12 percent in Wednesday's trading, falling from 8.67 euros ($12.06 at today's rates) to 7.44 euros ($10.35) as of this writing, with blame partly going to the Italian half of the FCA marriage, which recorded a pretty significant drop in profits during the first quarter of this year.

The plan, which will cost around $77 billion over the next several years, is facing criticism from investors thanks in part to a 1.4-percent drop in Fiat's first-quarter profits, to 622 million euros ($862 million). That figure is also short of Bloomberg analysts' projections, which predicted $1.18 billion in profits before taxes, interest and one-time items.

"If you start your 2014-2018 plan with an extremely weak quarter, nobody will give you the credit that you will achieve your targets," Jens Schattner, a Frankfurt-based automotive analyst told Bloomberg. "If it was so easy just to launch new products to be successful in this industry, why wouldn't everybody do exactly the same."

Some of the concerns are even simpler, though.

"These brands need a huge amount of work to get where they need to be. The world changes very slowly and you have brands at the bottom of the pile in many regions. It's not going to happen overnight," said Harald Hendrikse, a London-based analyst for Nomura Holdings.

Alfa Romeo and Maserati are perhaps the biggest points of concern, each brand facing its fair share of struggles over the years. Marchionne's goal of dramatically increasing sales (over five-fold for Alfa and nearly as much for Maserati) before 2018 is a particularly big point of contention.

"The aspiration is big but the questions are bigger," said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan. "Can Fiat do enough to turn Alfa into a big, profitable brand? Are there enough Maserati buyers to make Fiat a global player?"

While we like what we saw earlier this week in Auburn Hills, it seems fairly clear that there will be a number of bumps in the road along the way. Whether the analysts' concerns end up being correct, though, remains to be seen.