Fast track to the world’s largest carmaker

By David Rocks and Tommaso Ebhardt

SERGIO Marchionne moves fast. The CEO of Fiat SpA and Chrysler Group owns a half-dozen Ferraris, has homes in three countries, and shuttles on a private jet between Detroit, Fiat’s hometown of Turin, and other outposts of his growing empire.

Fuelled by a dozen espressos a day and packs of Muratti cigarettes, he stormed into Fiat a decade ago and fired most of the top management, and then did the same at Chrysler in 2009, installing a dozen newcomers on his second day. On a recent gray Tuesday morning, Marchionne took one of his Ferraris — a black Enzo — around Fiat’s high-speed test track near the town of Balocco, 40 miles east of Turin. “When you’re pissed off,” he said, stamping on the accelerator and pushing the car from a comfortable 120 miles per hour to 200, “there’s nothing better than this.”