"The Jeep Patriot and Compass (small SUVs) are helping us to grow the Jeep brand," LaSorda said. The four-door Jeep Wrangler also is selling well, and LaSorda also pointed to the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger midsize models as strengths for the company.

"The Jeep brand has a lot of potential," said Tom Libby, J.D. Power and Associates' senior director of industry analysis. "It's a real sort of jewel for them."

But in order to gain sales volume and market share, Chrysler has to have better entries in the midsize car segment, which is 13 percent of the market, Libby said. The Sebring and Avenger, while competitive, aren't good enough in a segment where there are so many strong players, he said.

Chrysler needs "something over and above competitive," according to Libby. "If you don't have a really competitive product there, you're not going to be able to compete share-wise."

When Chrysler was making big dollars in the late '90s, it's five top-selling models were either minivans, trucks or SUVs, most of which come with higher profit margins than cars. Now the company is trying to shift its product line to smaller, more fuel efficient models on which it makes less money.

That means costs have to be cut to become profitable, and analysts say Cerberus will be a force in accomplishing that during upcoming contract talks with the United Auto Workers. During the bargaining, Chrysler will try to reduce its unfunded long-term staff health care liability, which runs into the billions of dollars.

But Cole said that may not be enough, given the global economies of scale that Toyota and now GM are experiencing and Chrysler's relatively small global presence.

While niche brands such as Porsche or BMW can succeed with smaller volumes, Chrysler won't be able to, Cole said.

"When you're in the mainstream part of the product line, it's very difficult for a smaller company, particularly a regional company, to be successful," he said.