Sergio Marchionne is currently being regarded as the saviour of the Fiat Group, and since his appointment as CEO the Italian-Canadian - with a big reputation - has started the monumental task of turning the fortunes of the huge Italian conglomerate around - and with rapid results. Earlier this year he negotiated Fiat's way out of a highly restrictive agreement with General Motors, in the process winning a payoff that has proved to be a financial lifeline. Since then has taken over as the hands-on CEO of the Auto Division - where the main root of the group's problem lie - and negotiated an extended manufacturing alliance with the French PSA Group, entered into a joint venture with Ford to build a new small car, licensed Suzuki to build Fiat's advanced technology diesel engines in Asia, and is currently talking with leading Indian carmaker Tata Motors, and its Chinese equivalent SAIC, about major new collaborations. Fiat needed a 'big hitter' to get it out of the mess it was in, with Marchionne, a tough talker in a hurry, they seem to have found their man.

On Monday Automotive News Europe published a revealing interview with Marchionne, that took place in Turin on 28th October. (On Monday we reprised the outlook that the Marchionne saw for Fiat, Alfa and Lancia.)

Luca Ciferri asked Marchionne: "On a scale of 0 to 100 percent, where are you in fixing the Fiat group?" To which the blunt-speaking Fiat Auto CEO replied, "At a group level, 20 percent. I mean, 20 percent done, 80 percent to be done. The level of implementation differs from sector to sector and we are still at the beginning: 10 percent done at CNH, which we have just restructured from a geographical organisation into a brand organisation, and 6 percent at Iveco heavy trucks. The Magneti Marelli component arm is at about 20-25 percent, and Comau production systems at 30 percent. On the strategic front, we are trying to find the right role for a component supplier and for a robot maker within the Fiat group." He added that there were no plans to sell Magnetti Marelli and Comau, in fact the opposite - they were working to develop these businesses.

Delving deeper, Ciferri asked him where does Fiat Auto stand on the fixing scale? "At Fiat Auto we have done much more than it seems, but a lot has still to be done, Marchionne replied. "On the structural side, I think we are at 80 percent. I am pretty confident we have now put in place a totally market-oriented organisation in a company that traditionally was not market-oriented at all. But Fiat Auto also has a legacy of some rather large faulty decisions that were made in the past - the half billion euros invested in the Lancia Thesis, just to mention one. Today, we would have approved a totally different model range. But this is the product range we have and our daily battle is to extract as much value and sales as possible from our existing models."
 

As Marchionne has got on with the task of revitalising Fiat's operations from top to bottom, no stone has gone unturned, and in the process he has swept away swages of his senior managers in the past year, furiously shuffling his pack as he seeks the ideal team to lead Fiat forward into a new age. Always honest to the point, he revealed he was building up his own automotive knowledge 'step-by-step' and when asked if all the management reshuffles could promote less experienced people, he replied that he "preferred leadership over knowledge," adding that: "You can build your knowledge, as I am personally doing, step by step, in the auto business. But you cannot acquire leadership as a skill."

He revealed to ANE that he sleeps just four and a half hours a night, the rest of the time he is working. When did Fiat ever has a leader with so much drive and enthusiasm? Herbert Demel was dispensed with because he couldn't fix Fiat Auto's problems "at the speed of light" and Marchionne saw it as only natural that he should step into the hot seat, saying: "I think it is almost a given that a group CEO has to take direct charge of the biggest single problem his group is facing."

Fiat will also be targeting the relatively untapped South East Asian new car market through its budding relationship with Indian carmaker Tata Motors. "We are talking with Tata about an alliance not only for cars, but also in our other sectors such as engines and components," he said. "We are offering Tata access to our entire automotive knowledge and are looking to Tata for its knowledge of the southeast Asian market. Sometimes European companies have an approach to these markets that is somewhat arrogant, (telling them) 'we are bringing you our best technologies.' They don't care what the local marketplace wants. Tata should help us to read properly the needs of the southeast Asian market."

Upbeat, confident and in a hurry, the future of Fiat as a carmaker seems assured in Marchionne's hands. Finally Ciferri asked him: "If Fiat won 500 million euros in a lottery, how would you invest it?" He replied simply: "I would buy Fiat shares. There currently isn't a better investment than this."