Marchionne completes Ferrari takeover

Somewhere in his monstrously thick business card holder, Sergio Marchionne will need to find room for Ferrari Chief Executive Officer as well as Ferrari Chairman and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO.

The Italo-Canadian was yesterday confirmed as the Italian supercar brand’s new CEO, taking over from the highly respected Amedeo Felisa.

The 69-year-old Felisa, who had been widely reported as preferring the quieter life of retirement, has been Ferrari’s CEO for the final eight years of a 26-year career at the Prancing Horse.

While Felisa will be retained on the board of directors as a technical consultant, the move will leave the 63-year-old Marchionne free to broaden the Ferrari brand into areas outside sports cars, as he promised investors when a big chunk of the company floated in January.

“I have known Amedeo for more than a decade and I have had the opportunity to work with him closely for the last two years,” Marchionne said in a statement last night.

“He is beyond any doubt one of the best automotive engineers in the world.

“During the last 26 years, he has worked tirelessly to fuel and guide Ferrari’s technical development, producing an array of cars which have set the standard for both performance and styling.”

Marchionne is also Ferrari’s Chairman and plans to fulfill both roles concurrently, having taken over from old-guard chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo after clashing on volume targets.

Marchionne sold the Ferrari float on the back of moving the brand away from being just a supercar maker and into other general luxury goods to boost its returns on investment.

The board of the supercar brand now reflects that intention, with Marchionne and former Agnelli family black sheep Lapo Elkann being joined by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE’s executive vice-president Delphine Arnault and Adam Keswick from the parent company of the Mandarin Oriential Hotel Group.

Marchionne’s other leading industry roles include being vice-chairman of Exor (the Agnelli family investment company), an independent director of Philip Morris International, Chairman of CNH Industrial and Chairman of SGS SA.