At a news conference Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Chrysler Group CEO, Sergio Marchionne says a new minivan would cost a hefty investment.

Canadian government officials on the federal and provincial level will meet with Chrysler in Detroit over the next two days. One of the topics will be a new minivan; something Marchionne says would cost a large investment.

“There’s a large scale investment required to do the minivan,” says Marchionne. “It’s in excess of a billion.”

However, future production of the minivan may not be in Windsor. For the past 30 years the vehicle has been pumped out of the Windsor Assembly Plant, knowing no other home.

“It’s based on the economic case about where we make the minivan,” he says. “My advice is for all of us to do the right thing, whatever that is.”

Auto analyst Dennis Desrosiers says while the auto industry is rebounding, Canada hasn't played a major role in that resurgence.

“In Canada, we have a number of plants that are on the bubble,” says Desrosiers. “We don't know where the WAP is going.”

Desrosiers adds the Fiat deal, which will see the Italian arm of the company take full control of Chrysler, likely slowed down any major decisions.

“From their perspective, why make investment if they don't own it, so I think Sergio Marchionne sat on the back burner waiting for this deal to happen,” says Desrosiers.

Marchionne hopes the deal will be complete within the next week

“We have seen a serious deterioration in the number of manufacturing facilities in Canada on the automotive side,” says Marchionne. “We need to ensure we don't make matters worse.”

Marchionne remained coy on several fronts during the news conference, but he did indicate the new minivan, where ever it’s built, could potentially be Chrysler’s first electric vehicle.