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At a recent roundtable with reporters, Chrysler president Jim Press was quizzed about the nonbinding potential deal with Fiat Auto. Here’s a lowdown on what Press said about the likelihood of the tie-up becoming official and the implications for Chrysler LLC.

On the chances of the deal scuttling partnerships with Nissan and VW—over a Versa-based small car and a Ram-based pickup, and the Routan minivan—and nixing any future deals with other automakers:

“We are always open to new partnerships, and the Fiat deal doesn’t preclude them, but we are not talking with anyone else at the moment. We can’t speculate on what restrictions would be in place if the deal was done. We will still produce our own cars. Fiat is essentially giving us billions of dollars’ worth in platforms and engines and technology, and they have a wider and better range of A-, B-, and C-segment cars than anyone in North America. They get access to our distribution network and our dealers are able to fill in the part of the portfolio we don’t have [small, fuel-efficient cars], plus we have access to their export distribution, which helps with Jeep and minivans. It’s like a hand-in-glove fit for both of us. We can go from viability to prosperity as a global powerhouse.”

Our take on this is simple: Fiat gives Chrysler the small car platforms it needs, although Press is wrong about the quality of the Fiat platforms. Ford, for instance, has a more impressive range of B- to C-segment cars in Europe, from the Fiesta through the Mondeo, than Fiat, which is traditionally weak at the larger end of this spectrum. As to whether Fiat and Chrysler will be a global powerhouse, time will tell. It looks more like this deal may be the only way that two relatively small players can survive in the short-to-medium term.