Chrysler will begin selling the subcompact Fiat 500 in Canada by the end of the year in the hopes of boosting its market share with smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

The automaker unveiled the European-style hatchback at the Canadian International Auto Show on Thursday and will begin selling it in North America by December.

The vehicle will be the first Fiat model to be sold at Chrysler dealerships after the two automakers partnered up last year. The goal of the partnership is to give Turin-based Fiat an entry into the North American market, while giving Chrysler access to more fuel-efficient technologies and smaller vehicles.

The future of the automaker, which filed for bankruptcy in the United States and received $3.8 billion in bailout money from the federal and Ontario governments last year, is still highly uncertain, but Chrysler hopes vehicles like the Fiat 500 will allow it to compete more effectively.

"We've had traditional strength in the minivan, the SUV and the pickup-truck markets," Reid Bigland, president and CEO of Chrysler Canada, said in an interview.

Bigland said the Fiat 500 allows Chrysler to fill an important gap in its vehicle lineup and will compete with the Toyota Yaris and the Honda Fit.

"What Fiat brings is significant strength in the small and compact-vehicle segments and the small and compact-vehicle technologies. So the Fiat 500 lands squarely in the Canadian market wheelhouse," he added.

Bigland said Chrysler currently has no plans to introduce other Fiat cars to North America, but said Fiat's engine technology will find its way into Chrysler products like the Jeep Grand Cherokee as early as this spring.

Chrysler Canada builds minivans at a plant in Windsor, Ont., and the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger in Brampton, Ont. It employs about 7,500 hourly workers. The Fiat 500 will be built in Mexico.

Chrysler has seen its Canadian market share more than double from a low of 6.6 per cent during the depth of the recession to 14.4 per cent in January.