Washington

EVER since Henry Ford's mass-assembly line unleashed the relentless logic of scale on the modern auto industry, big automakers have always eaten the small. This Hobbesian dynamic has bred a race of global behemoths, all of which are suddenly eyeing each other as growth prospects evaporate in the once-promising markets of China, Brazil, India and Russia.

Smaller and more troubled than those in the top tier of automakers, Fiat Chrysler would normally be prey for a larger competitor. But its audacious chief executive officer, Sergio Marchionne, has seen a flash of weakness in the eye of one of the great whales, and seems intent on attempting to reverse the natural order by forcing a takeover of General Motors.