Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne is reportedly set to give up his dual role as CEO of the Auto Division next year, with several names being considered, reports Italian Il Giornale newspaper today. It adds that four senior Fiat managers are being considered for the role.

Marchionne, who was appointed as Fiat Group CEO in June 2004 after having spent a year on the board, added the title of Fiat Auto CEO to the position of Group CEO last February when he sacked the then incumbent Herbert Demel, who had been in the job for fifteen months, believing that taking hands-on charge of the demanding key role was the ideal way to drive forward his plans to turnaround the struggling carmaking unit, which at the time, was dragging the group downwards. Marchionne has been a huge success at Fiat and in the last quarter of 2005 the Auto Division finally turned in an operating profit. With the new Fiat Grande Punto model range proving to be a major hit in the new car market, the financial markets demonstrating their enthusiasm by marking up the Group's share price, and his focus on marketing and profitability dovetailing neatly with Fiat's traditional engineering strengths, a very promising future beckons. The hard-hitting Italian-Canadian has always stated that his dual role as Group and Auto Division CEO would be a temporary one, although he has offered no timescale for drafting in a new boss for the carmaking side. However, Marchionne sees his attention being required within other Fiat Group divisions', including the Iveco truck and bus unit and the agricultural giant CNH Global, both of which he sees as requiring major future work.

Il Giornale today outlines several possible names expected to be front runners to become Auto Division CEO, including the Head of Manufacturing Stefan Ketter, Product boss Giuseppe Bonollo, Fiat Brand & Commericial CEO Luca De Meo and Tofaş CEO Alfredo Altavilla.
 

Ketter, a former VW executive was brought in by Herbert Demel to tackle the quality control side in 2004. Last autumn Marchionne promoted him to Head of Manufacturing. Giuseppe Bonollo switched from Fiat's Ferrari arm last spring to take up the role of product development with responsibility for the Fiat and Lancia brands. Luca De Meo was promoted from Lancia to Fiat Brand & Commercial after being attributed with turning around Lancia's precarious position on small resources.

Il Giornale though quotes the the Turkish-based Tofaş joint venture CEO Altavilla, who also holds the title of Fiat's Vice-President of International Business Development, as being the firm favourite to land the Auto Division's CEO role when Marchionne decides to vacant the seat. Under Altavilla's stewardship the Turkish operation has grown very rapidly in stature to become one of Fiat's most strategically important global international manufacturing hubs, second only to the long-established Brazilian operation.

Tofaş, which already assembles the best-selling low-cost Doblò light commercial van range, is undergoing a 500 million euro investment programme which will see it building a new light commercial vehicle codenamed 'Minicargo', in partnership with PSA Peugeot-Citroen, and also a low-cost new sedan which is codenamed D200, both of which will arrive year.