AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (AFP) - Chrysler expects its Canadian sales to grow at least 33 percent by 2014 thanks to an alliance with Italy's Fiat which will expand its small car offerings, a top executive said Wednesday.

The automaker expects overall Canadian auto sales to grow by a more modest eight percent in the same period, said Reid Bigland, chief executive officer of Chrysler Canada.

"These forecasts are on the conservative side and very achievable," Reid told journalists and analysts gathered for a presentation of Chrysler's five-year plan.

Chrysler's projected sales of 220,000 vehicles -- which represents an increase in market share from 11.5 percent in 2009 to 13.8 percent in 2014 -- will still be below the 233,000 vehicles Chrysler sold in 2007.

And that was when Chrysler "didn't have the wind at our back that the Fiat products are going to provide," Bigland told reporters and analysts.

While Chrysler's minivans have been "moving faster than chicken pox through a kindergarten" it has traditionally lagged in the small and compact car segment, which makes up 39 percent of the Canadian market, Bigland said.

Fiat's strength in that segment will help Chrysler expand in that key segment and further growth will be possible as a result of upcoming improvements to existing models, he said.

After remaining stable at 1.6 to 1.7 million units a year, Canadian auto are now forecast to come in at 1.48 million for 2009, Bigland said.

Bigland forecast that the Canadian market will grow marginally to 1.5 million in 2010, 1.55 million in 2011, 1.57 million in 2012, 1.58 million in 2013 and 1.6 million in 2014.