DETROIT — Chrysler LLC will decide by late winter whether to partner with another automaker on its global mid-sized car platform, known as Project D, says CEO Bob Nardelli.

Chrysler must decide whether to engineer the platform in-house and build vehicles at its own factories or work with another carmaker. The company has indicated it would prefer a partner.

Chrysler said it has to decide "in three, four, five months," Nardelli said last week in an interview at Chrysler headquarters in suburban Detroit.

"We have costed out the in-house version, and we're still working with two or three platform providers," he said.

Project D powertrains

Nardelli confirmed the potential partners were all automakers but declined to identify them. He said Chrysler is considering alternative powertrains for Project D cars, which will replace the company's current mid-sized cars, the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger.

Powertrain options include an all-electric car and a Chevrolet Volt-style electric with an internal combustion engine that charges an electric motor.

Late last year, Chrysler formed Project D after the Sebring, introduced in 2006, and the Avenger, introduced in 2007, failed to catch on with consumers.

Under the ownership of Cerberus Capital Management LP, Chrysler conceived Project D as a new type of vehicle-development program.

All in one spot

The Project D team encompassed people from all phases of the company — manufacturing, design, engineering and marketing — and put them in one location. Chrysler said it would first listen to customers before deciding how to proceed.

Project D got off to a rocky start when Mike Donoughe, the team leader and a veteran Chrysler engineer, quit last spring after a reported dispute with senior management.