Italy on Wednesday mourned Sergio
Marchionne with the late FCA chief remembered as a tough,
charismatic and visionary leader who saved Fiat and went on to
forge a daring merger with Chrysler, turning the combined firm
into the world's seventh-biggest carmaker.
John Elkann, the president of the Agnelli-Elkann family
holding company Exor, announced that the former FCA CEO had died
at the age of 66.
"Unfortunately, what we feared has come to pass. Sergio
Marchionne, man and friend, is gone," said Elkann.
"I believe that the best way to honor his memory is to build
on the legacy he left us, continuing to develop the human values
of responsibility and openness of which he was the most ardent
champion.
"My family and I will be forever grateful for what he has
done.
"Our thoughts are with Manuela, and his sons Alessio and
Tyler.
New FCA CEO Mike Manley said Marchionne "was a special
man", asking for a minute's silence on his debut with financial
analysts in presenting FCA's disappointing second-quarter
results, with profits 35% down.
"It is very sad and difficult time. Heartbreaking news. He
was a unique man and we will miss him".
Manley said "I spent nine years speaking with Sergio every
day and my heart is broken....The relationship between us was
based on transparency, focusing on targets and, the most
important thing of all, on respect".
President Sergio Mattarella said: "His vision always tried to
look beyond the horizon and imagine how innovation and quality
might give greater force in the future course.
"Marchionne paid witness with his leadership to all this,
showing the world the abilities and creativity of the
manufacturing realities of our country".
The head of State said "Marchionne wrote an important page in
the history of Italian industry.
"In his responsibility as leader of Fiat he traversed years
of very deep and radical transformations of markets, systems of
production, financial strategies, and union relations.
"He ensured continuity and relaunch as far as building a new
aggregation, to give life to a new and bigger reality to sustain
competition.
"Marchionne never gave up fighting for his strategies, facing
difficulties and conflicts, in order to overcome
misunderstandings".
Premier Giuseppe Conte praised his abilities and said "I
express my condolences and those of all the government for the
passing of Sergio Marchionne.
"My most heartfelt condolences to the family and all his
loved ones".
Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini said
"honour to a man who did a lot and could have still done a lot
more.
"A thought for the family of Sergio Marchionne and best
wishes to those who will have the honour and the duty of taking
his place", Salvini said, referring to new CEO Manley, the
former Jeep chief.
Former centre-left premier Romano Prodi said "the news of the
passing of Sergio Marchionne grieves me.
"His death deprives us of an interlocutor of great technical
ability and refined political intelligence. I recall the
immediate empathy that his lectures aroused in the students of
Brown University and the attention he captured with his direct
and involving approach.
"This was combined in him with rigour, a great spirit of will
and an extraordinary capacity for work with which he faced the
challenge, not an easy one, of car manufacturing".
Former centre-left premier Paolo Gentiloni said "thanks for
the work, the hard work, the results. And for Italian pride
carried to the world".
Gentiloni's centre-left predecessor Matteo Renzi said "I feel
disgust at those (leftists and radicals) who still today have
insulted on social networks a man who was dying.
"An affectionate hug for the family of Sergio Marchionne. May
the earth be light upon him".
Former centre-right premier Silvio Berlusconi said he would
have liked to see Marchionne lead Italy for his centre-right
bloc.
"With Sergio Marchionne Italy loses not only the most
brilliant of its managers but one of the symbolic figures of our
country," said the Forza Italia leader.
"He represented the best Italy: the hard-working and
concrete, serious and prepared, gifted with a vision and able to
look to the future.
"...I said once, without telling him beforehand, that I would
have liked to see him lead our country. I still think that,"
Berlusconi said.
The Wall Street Journal said Marchionne was a "star of
the auto industry and his death ends an era for Detroit where he
was one of the untouchable CEOs".
Opening its site with news of the FCA ex-chief's death, the
WSJ said "he challenged the orthodoxy of the car industry, and
he was ahead of his rivals in some of the most important trends
of the car industry".
The business daily quoted Evercore ISI as calling him "one of
the most successful and formidable CEOs of the auto industry".
Flags flew at half mast at FCA's Lingotto HQ in Turin while
all FCA plants including Melfi and Pomigliano d'Arco observed a
10-minute silence for Marchionne's passing.
Juventus, part of the Agnelli group, on Wednesday called
Marchionne "a giant".
Juve President Andrea Agnelli said: "Bon voyage, and may you
continue to light up the way".
Juve will play its next match with black armbands.
Piero Ferrari, son of late motor racing legend Enzo, said
Marchionne had reminded him of his father.
"He recalled my father in many ways: also in the moments in
which he was toughest he let emerge a great humanity behind that
facade," Piero told ANSA.
"In my personal history with the firm I have lived many
painful moments, and today another one has been added with this
grave loss.
"Sergio had since taking the job (as Ferrari president)
respect and recognition for Ferrai and its history".
Italy's biggest and most leftwing union CGIL said, however,
that Marchionne maye have saved Fiat but did not save not union
dialogue.
Marchionne, "to whom the esteem of the CGIL always went, has
the indubitable merit of saving a dying form. A man of great
intelligence and managerial ability, a tough negotiator,
excellent organiser, he was not however able, nor did he want
to, steer the firm towards dialogue and collaboration with an
important part of Italian workers".
CGIL added that there were now "many unknowns" about the
future of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
"Today as many unknowns remain on the future of production
and employment levels in Italy, FCA needs to adopt an industrial
plan and face the still-unresolved issues that remain and
re-present themselves not only to the new management but to the
owners and public decision-makers," it said.
The other two main unions, CISL and UIL, who reconciled
themselves to his job cuts, joined in the praise of Marchionne.
Apple CEO Tim Cook called Marchionne "a visionary in the
carmaking industry and a remarkable leader".
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