Chrysler Canada and the Canadian International Auto Show (CIAS) announced that Sergio Marchionne, chairman and CEO of Chrysler Group LLC and CEO of Fiat S.p.A. will be the keynote speaker at the official opening ceremonies for CIAS 2014 in Toronto.

The ceremonies will take place as part of media preview day on Thursday, February 13, 2014, at the CIAS venue in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The show will open to the public on February 14 and run through February 23, 2014.

It will be something of a homecoming for Marchionne, who was born in Italy but grew up and went to school in Toronto and remains a dual-citizen of both Canada and Italy.

Marchionne is a barrister, solicitor and chartered accountant, having earned a bachelor of arts degree with a major in philosophy and minor in economics from the University of Toronto and a bachelor of laws from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto.

He also holds a master of business administration and bachelor of commerce degrees from the University of Windsor (Ontario).

Marchionne is best known, however, as the architect behind Fiat's alliance with Chrysler and as a straight-talking executive, according to the automaker and CIAS organizers.

Each year, one automaker acts as the official host of the show, representing all the manufacturers and staging the opening ceremonies. For 2014, Chrysler Canada will fulfill that role.

The Canadian International Auto Show, which celebrated its 40^th Anniversary in 2013, typically attracts more than 300,000 attendees and in excess of 1,000 accredited media representatives.