Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Amid Sergio Marchionne health crisis ; Ferrari to name Louis C. Camilleri as Marchionne's successor

Source

mmarshall

Mr. Marchionne passed away last night. May he RIP.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...=.37b5a50ba743


Sergio Marchionne, the master negotiator who engineered one of the most brazen automotive deals in history when he convinced the U.S. government to sell bankrupt automaker Chrysler to Itay’s Fiat, and turned the combined Fiat Chrysler into one of the most profitable firms in the industry in less than a decade, has died. He was 66.

The holding company of the Agnelli family, which founded Fiat, announced the death Wednesday, but gave no immediate details on the cause.

Last week, Fiat Chrysler announced Mr. Marchionne’s replacement as chief executive as his health worsening following shoulder surgery in Zurich.

“Unfortunately, what we feared has come to pass. Sergio Marchionne, man and friend, is gone,” said a statement from Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann, a member of the controlling Agnelli family.

Even as industry analysts expressed confidence with his successor, Mike Manley, who headed the company’s Jeep and Ram division, and Mr. Marchionne had already planned to retire next year.

But there appeared to be a sense of frenzied panic about what comes next for the company Mr. Marchionne had grown with astonishing success, much of it credited to his charismatic and frank personality, his negotiating prowess and his indefatigable work ethic.



Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne smiles during a ceremony to mark the opening of contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers, in Detroit, on July 25, 2018. (Paul Sancya/AP)The Italian born, Canadian-raised Mr. Marchionne vaulted to instant fame in auto circles at the peak of the U.S. financial crisis in 2009, when he wedged himself into the center of negotiations in Washington about what to do with failing auto giants General Motors and Chrysler, both on the brink of bankruptcy.

Mr. Marchionne became involved with then president Obama’s Auto Task Force and convinced officials that Fiat, which he had run for only five years, was the right partner for Chrysler.

On April 30, 2009, Chrysler filed for bankruptcy and, on June 10, Fiat and Chrysler announced the merger of the two companies, with Mr. Marchionne as chief executive.

“So the industry looks like its going to sink into oblivion and this fellow who wears this black sweater, chain smokes and drinks gallons of espresso manages to insert himself and convince these people that the best alternative for Chrysler to merge with Fiat,” said Maryann Keller, a leading automotive industry analyst. “On it’s own it doesn’t make any sense.”

While the initial terms gave Fiat a 20 percent stake in Chrysler — the U.S. and Canadian governments, along with the United Auto Workers Union, held the rest — the Italian carmaker could claim another 15 percent equity if it met two requirements.






Mr. Marchionne is survived by two sons. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

Following his law degree, Mr. Marchionne began working as an accountant and tax officer at Deloitte & Touche in Toronto. Between 1985 and 2000, he served in executive roles for the Toronto packaging company Lawson Mardon Group, among other firms in the city. In 2002, he was named chief executive of a Swiss testing and certification company and joined the board of Fiat SpA in 2003. The next year, he became chief executive and, in 2006, was made chief executive of Fiat’s auto division.

He immediately began a turnaround of the troubled carmaker, cutting costs and whipping it into shape financially. By 2009, he was in Washington, negotiating one of the biggest auto deals of his era. Just two years later, Chrysler made its first profit ($183 million) since 2005, and paid back its $6 billion federal bailout six years before it was due.

“I remember when I came here in 2009,” he told “60 Minutes” in 2012. “There’s nothing worse for a leader than to see fear in people’s faces. It’s been a long, rocky road, but the fear is gone.”

5gears-IS

iTrader: (5)

Longtime Fiat Chrysler head, Sergio Marchionne, dies after surgery

Marchionne is credited with saving Chrysler from bankruptcy by merging it with Fiat.

RIP Sergio Marchionne

mmarshall

Repost?....already part of this thread:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/car...eo-of-fca.html

Aron9000

As an American, I want to give this man a genuinely sincere THANK YOU for resurrecting Chrysler from the ashes of bankruptcy. Thank you for saving so many jobs, thank you for making that company profitable again. I was listening to NPR and they played a clip from a few years ago with the man talking to the press about the layoffs, cuts in benefits and pay that Chrysler employees had to take. Sergio actually got choked up and began weeping when talking about this, saying that they had given too much, I mean listening to it, you could hear the sincerity in his voice.

If that doesn't say it all about the man, I don't know what does. He cared about the people who worked for him, he wanted them to be successful, he wanted his company to be successful, he was a car guy and wanted his company to build kick *** cars. As far as that last point goes, its kind of a mixed bag depending on market segment.

I think if he didn't exhibit that brilliant leadership, Chrysler would have slipped into chapter 7 liquidation, WAY more layoffs, a lot more supplier bankruptcies, then WAY more layoffs, hell I think the recession might have been even worse if he hadn't saved the day at Chrysler.

Aron9000

Okay I copied and pasted what I wrote in the other thread, because I think it bears repeating . . .

As an American, I want to give this man a genuinely sincere THANK YOU for resurrecting Chrysler from the ashes of bankruptcy. Thank you for saving so many jobs, thank you for making that company profitable again. I was listening to NPR and they played a clip from a few years ago with the man talking to the press about the layoffs, cuts in benefits and pay that Chrysler employees had to take. Sergio actually got choked up and began weeping when talking about this, saying that they had given too much, mainly talking about their loyalty, but also about the pay cuts. I mean listening to it, you could hear the sincerity in his voice. I think a big part of this is that he didn't want to be the bad guy, but through incompetent management of years past that resulted in the bankruptcy, he had to be the bad guy.

If that doesn't say it all about the man, I don't know what does. He cared about the people who worked for him, he wanted them to be successful, he wanted his company to be successful, he was a car guy and wanted his company to build kick *** cars. As far as that last point goes, its kind of a mixed bag depending on market segment.

I think if he didn't exhibit that brilliant leadership, Chrysler would have slipped into chapter 7 liquidation, WAY more layoffs, a lot more supplier bankruptcies, then WAY more layoffs, hell I think the recession might have been even worse if he hadn't saved the day at Chrysler.

mmarshall

I agree with much of what you posted, and I think part of it was simply his more personal, emotional style of management compared to, say, the cold, autocratic, uncaring management we often see from the Germans. Chrysler had been under German management (Mercedes) for years, and then under Cerebrus.

With Marchionne gone, it also begs the question of what will happen to the Chrysler Division, whether it will simply be absorbed into the Dodge Division or not. there are only two current vehicles left in the American market under that nameplate...the 300 and Pacifica. Marchionne cancelled the previous plans to consolidate the two divisions.....we'll see what his successor does.

Slightly off-topic, perhaps, but I have long-wondered why GM doesn't do that with GMC and Chevy trucks....consolidate them all into one or the other.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Because Denali makes $$$ for GM.

mmarshall

True, but I don't think you are following me. All of GM's trucks and SUVs make money for them......that's a given. But they could be making money for them, as essentially the same Chevy/GMC vehicles, without the cost of running two separate divisions.

mmarshall

Don't forget one other thing......he was also willing to keep the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 full-size RWD V8 sedans in production when neither Ford or GM (outside of GM's limited-production Chevy SS) had any significant competition.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

It doesn't cost them much to badge engineer. GMC is a huge overlap, but GMC commands an extra premium over a Chevrolet counterpart, and not just on Denali trimmed models.

Aron9000

Like I said, he wanted to build kick *** cars and did so with stuff like all the SRT Dodges and Chryslers, the Demon, the Hellcat, all those high performance Alfa Romeos, the fast Maseratis, the very popular Jeeps, Ram trucks went up a serious notch in terms of style, sophistication and quality of build with the 2010 redesign.

Also I said things were hit and miss. Small-midsized sedans were a serious miss, they quit making them under the Dodge and Chrysler name, Fiats never caught on in the US market. Although they have kept that price range open with a bunch of crude, outdated and heavily discounted Jeep crossovers called the Patriot and Compass. All of those sell in the mid to high teens low twenty thousand dollar range once you include incentives, so I will give him credit, his company did have the right body style in the cheap catergory, even if it was very outdated-old models.