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Sergio Marchionne, the executive who led the improbable transformation of Fiat Chrysler from a struggling automaker into a manufacturing giant, died on Wednesday after suffering complications from shoulder surgery, the holding company that founded Fiat said. He was 66.
“Unfortunately, what we feared has come to pass,” John Elkann, the chairman and chief executive of Exor, the company controlled by the family that founded Fiat, said in a statement. “Sergio Marchionne, man and friend, is gone.”
Mr. Marchionne was the chief executive of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles until last weekend, when he was removed after the seriousness of his condition became clear.
When he took over Fiat in 2004, the Italian brand was a faltering manufacturer with few prospects for significant growth. It has since grown into a company nearly 10 times as large by market value.
He spearheaded the 2009 rescue and takeover of Chrysler, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the spinoff of the luxury brand Ferrari.
The takeover of Chrysler, in particular, was crucial to cementing his legacy as a turnaround specialist.
As the Treasury Department in Washington was scrambling to prevent the collapse of much of the United States auto industry in the wake of the financial crisis, Mr. Marchionne stepped forward with an audacious offer. Fiat would take control of Chrysler and provide cars and technology to revive the sickest of the three Detroit automakers. There was a catch, however: The government would have to hand Chrysler over to Fiat for free.
It was a hardball offer typical of Mr. Marchionne, a chain-smoking workaholic. But he knew the Treasury, as well as Chrysler’s creditors and its labor union, had little room to negotiate. The American economy was slipping deeper into recession, the collapse of Chrysler would have meant the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and no other company was willing to take on the job.
That was the beginning of one of the most remarkable rescues in the auto industry, and the signature move of his career.
This is a developing story and will be updated shortly.
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