Sergio Marchionne, the head of Swiss inspection group SGS, will soon be confirmed as the new chief executive of the Fiat Group, a news agency has reported.
Sergio Marchionne, the head of Swiss inspection group SGS, will soon be confirmed as the new chief executive of the Fiat Group, a news agency has reported.
CARtoday.com reported on Monday that the Fiat Group had to scramble to find a new chief executive after Giuseppe Morchio resigned on Sunday in protest at Ferrari chief Luca di Montezemolo being named chairman of Italy’s biggest industrial group.
On Wednesday afternoon it appeared that Fiat would fill the sudden vacancy in its top management by picking Marchionne, who is also a director of the Italian conglomerate, to take over as CEO.
A source close to the Italian group told :
“He is the man and will be presented as the new chief executive on Tuesday”.
An SGS spokesman confirmed to the news agency that Marchionne would attend Fiat’s board meeting in Turin. After Fiat picks its fifth chief executive in two years, Montezemolo is due to hold a news conference, the report added.
“Marchionne has a very good track record in share performance and is seen as one of Switzerland’s best managers,” Giovanni Bizzarri, fund manager at Banca Ifigest. “He and Montezemolo both have great images, so it’s a winning duo from that point of view. In reality, it will take a year or two to see how good they are for Fiat”.
“Fiat doesn’t have a minute to waste, but now middle management are left without a leader once again, which is going to slow everything down,” one auto analyst said.
