Fiat Chrysler Appoints Jeep Chief Mike Manley to Replace Sick CEO Marchionne | economic news



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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV named Mike Manley, the boss of its Jeep and Ram brands, to head Sergio Marchionne, after a sudden deterioration in his health, which prevented the 66-year-old leader from returning to work.

The sudden departure of the executive that saved both Fiat and Chrysler and then forged a profitable transatlantic operation also led to the selection of new executives from Ferrari NV and CNH Industrial NV, who were seconded from Fiat During Marchionne 14- According to Manley, a 54-year-old Briton, the man behind the extraordinary success of the Jeep brand's global expansion. It will start immediately, Fiat Chrysler said in a statement. Manley joined Chrysler in the United Kingdom in 2000 when the builder was part of Daimler. He was appointed head of Jeep at the time of the Fiat acquisition in 2009, and led the transformation of the iconic American brand into an ATM machine. Analysts estimate that the Jeep alone could be worth $ 35 billion from Fiat Chrysler.

Marchionne's health "has deteriorated significantly in recent hours" following the complications of shoulder surgery. . The executive was expected to retire in April 2019. His illness accelerated the timing of an estate decision that was already considered a crossroads for the company. Appoint Manley to the company's management is only the first of a number of crucial choices – such as independence – facing President John Elkann, heir to the founding family Agnelli [19659002] "I am deeply saddened to learn the state of Sergio's health," said Mr. Elkann in a separate statement. "It's an unthinkable situation until a few hours ago, and that leaves us all feeling unfair."

At the April General Meeting Elkann, 42, and Marchionne both said Fiat Chrysler was now strong enough to survive alone and did not need a partner. Fiat reiterated this point of view on Saturday, saying that Manley and his team will implement the five-year business plan presented on June 1 to ensure Fiat Chrysler's "strong and independent" future.

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, speaks to the media after a press conference in Turin on June 1, 2018.
(Bloomberg)

With Manley, Fiat's board of directors dismissed two other internal candidates – Alfredo Altavilla, a close collaborator of Marchionne, and a Fiat veteran who oversees operations around the world and now heads the European activities of Car manufacturer. is well known on Wall Street and has helped to combine the company's operations after the merger with Chrysler.

"He's not a guy with a huge ego – it's another reason he'll be a good leader," said Rebecca Lindland, executive badyst at Kelley Blue Book, adding that 39 It's impossible for a person to fill Marchionne's shoes. "But he must certainly understand, make tough decisions about struggling brands, and look at electrification."

Manley had already been charged with the biggest job of the five – year plan: doubling Jeep sales volume by 2022 from the 1.4 million vehicles sold last year.It needs a 40% jump this year to reach Marchionne's mark in 2018.

The new CEO shares a direct style and a penchant for casual wear with Marchionne, having dodged the question of whether he was ready to take the first job, always saying that he was concentrating entirely on his work in Jeep

"If I do not develop volumes with these opportunities, then we will be sitting and having a different conversation next January, is not it? ", said Manley in an interview earlier this year

Ferrari appointed Louis C Camilleri, chairman of the board and former CEO of Philip Morris International Inc. to replace Marchionne as CEO Elkann will become president Suzanne Heywood, managing director of the Exor NV family of the Agnelli family, has been named president of the truck and farm equipment manufacturer CNH Industrial

Crumpled sweaters

Marchionne, known for his creased sweaters and uninterrupted work habits, was only competed by Carlos Ghosn of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi for longevity as the CEO of the automobile. was appointed Fiat's fifth chief in 2004 and succeeded in making the car manufacturer, which had lost more than 6 billion euros in 2003, to benefit in 2005 by reducing its costs and in li

With the acquisition of Chrysler in 2014, Marchionne gave Fiat the global reach needed to survive. Yet, as the seventh largest global automaker, the company may lack the size it needs to compete in an industry reinvented by the emergence of autonomous driving and electrification.

Fiat Chrysler is asking questions about Marchionne's health – His last public appearance was on June 26, when he spoke at an event in Rome. The company said on July 5 that the CEO was undergoing surgery on his right shoulder and that he needed a "short recovery period".

It will not be easy to fill one's shoes. The executive was one of the most skilled artists in the industry, saving Fiat from potential collapse, but later its acquisition of Chrysler, which would probably not have received the support of the US government for its 2009 bankruptcy without the involvement of its Italian partner.

Night Flights

Marchionne was known to be rarely rested, often sleeping on his private jet while he was traveling one night between Turin, Detroit and London. Weekend meetings were part of the routine for a cadre who wore black sweaters so that he did not have to waste time in the morning choosing between suits. He drank tons of espressos every day and smoked Muratti cigarettes before leaving his two habits about a year ago.

Marchionne was preparing to slow down but wanted to finish his plan to rid the automaker of its industrial debt. position to survive the next crisis in the industry. "I'm a fixer, until something is definitely fixed, I can not stop," he said.

Shaking things up [19659002] Marchionne has continued to shake up the industry with controversial moves that do not always have his counterparts.Chrysler has stopped manufacturing most 2016 pbadenger cars to focus on SUVs, a decision that was followed by Ford Motor and General Motors.In Europe, Marchionne abandoned mbad production to transform the Turin plant, which produces 500,000 cars a year, and also devoted to building brands, which created a huge value for shareholders, especially the Agnelli family Jeep, which produced approximately 300,000 cars in 2009, is now a global brand after expanding into Europe, China, India and America of the South.

Marchionne hears from long time the needs of industry consolidation. His plan to create with GM the world's largest automaker was pushed back in 2015. Since then, He and Elkann have decided to focus on the more lucrative SUVs and the higher-margin brands.

'No script & # 39; [19659002] At the presentation of the five-year plan of June 1, Marchionne's concluding remarks were addressed to his anonymous successor, warning him to remain flexible and to trust the "surviving culture" rooted in the employees of the two predecessor companies. They faced the threat of losing their dignity by losing their job, "said Marchionne." Can Marchionne leave a script or instruction? The answer is that there is no script or instruction. FCA is a culture of leaders and employees who are born of adversity and who work without partitions, that is the only way we know. "

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