Marchionne to lead Fiat-Chrysler in North America

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Sergio Marchionne, chief executive officer of Fiat SpA and Chrysler Group LLC, named a single management team for the two companies today and said he would personally lead the group's North American division.
Marchionne named three other regional chiefs to lead the group's operations in South America, Europe and Asia.

Fiat Purchasing Chief Gianni Coda will run operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Cledorvino Belini, the current head of Fiat's Brazilian operations, will lead the South American division. Michael Manley, currently in charge of the Jeep brand, will lead the Asian division.
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These executives will be part of a 22-member global executive council that will run both Fiat and Chrysler. Marchionne will remain CEO of both companies. The other members of his team include:

— Richard Palmer - Chief Financial Officer (American)
— Olivier Francois - Fiat (French)
— Lorenzo Sistino - Commercial vehicles (Italian)
— Harald Wester - Alfa/Abarth/Maserati & Chief Technical Officer (German)
— Saad Chehab - Lancia/Chrysler (American)
— Michael Manley - Jeep (British)
— Reid Bigland - Dodge (Canadian)
— Pietro Gorlier - Parts and Service/Mopar (Italian)
— Eugenio Razelli - Components/Magneti Marelli (Italian)
— Riccardo Tarantini -Teksid/Comau (Italian)
— Lorenzo Ramaciotti - Design (Italian)
— Stefan Ketter - Manufacturing (German)
— Vilmar Fistarol - Purchasing (Italian)
— Doug Betts - Quality (American)
— Bob Lee - Powertrain (American)
— Mark Chernoby - Product Portfolio (American)
— Alfredo Altavilla - Business Development (Italian)
— Alessandro Baldi - Fiat Services & Holdings (Swiss)
— Linda Knoll - Human Resources (American)

The executive council includes 11 Fiat executives, nine Chrysler executives and one from Case New Holland.

"We have now reached the right moment to step on the accelerator of the Fiat-Chrysler integration," Marchionne said in a statement.
"These appointments are the result of an extensive process of evaluation of the technical and leadership skills of the individuals who have been appointed to the GEC. But equally important is the fact that they reflect the multi-cultural geographically diverse nature of our businesses. We recognize in these leaders the future of Fiat-Chrysler as an efficient, multi-national competitor in a global automotive marketplace."
The council will be the highest authority next the group's board of directors.

Marchionne, 59, aims to merge the carmakers to reduce costs and achieve a target of more than 100 billion euros ($140 billion) in revenue by 2014. The executive said in May that the timing of a merger hasn't been decided, adding that it's not likely this year.

"Marchionne's decision to keep the role of overseeing the business in North America shows that the center of gravity of the combined entity will be in the U.S.," said Gianluca Spina, chairman of the business school at Polytechnic University of Milan. "The integration process is going extremely fast, as in Marchionne's style."

Fiat and Chrysler is now a "fully consolidated group," Exane BNP Paribas analyst Thierry Huon said in a July 27 research note. "We acknowledge that management has done a very good job of putting Chrysler back on track, but we believe that the profitability of this venture in the short term is still too dependent on Brazilian and U.S. car demand."
Fiat increased its Chrysler stake to 53.5 percent July 21. The Italian carmaker expects to hold 58.5 percent of the third-biggest U.S. automaker by the end of 2011, after getting 5 percent in return for developing a fuel-efficient car for Chrysler.

The United Auto Workers union's retiree health care trust, a voluntary employee beneficiary association or VEBA, will have the remaining 41.5 percent. Marchionne will end up paying about $2 billion to reach the 58.5 percent holding.

Fiat disagrees with the VEBA about the value of Chrysler, Marchionne said July 26 on the conference call. Selling its stake in capital markets remains the best way for the VEBA to "monetize" their interest, he said. Fiat has enough cash for the purchase, the CEO said.

Earlier this week, Marchionne said a formal, legal merger of Chrysler and Fiat will not take place until that issue is resolved — probably not for 12 to 18 months. But he said this move means Chrysler and Fiat are now functioning as one company.


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110728/AUTO...z1U4U6BsNI