Marchionne to replace Ecclestone?

Sergio Marchionne

Sergio Marchionne is tipped to be about to take over as the CEO of Ferrari SpA, in addition to his role of President and as the CEO of the now separate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). The current Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa is expected to be retired.

The theory behind the idea is that Marchionne's' presence will boost the company share price, which was launched at $52 a share in the IPO late last year, rose to an unrealistic $60.97 in early trading and then dropped gradually until it hit $31.66 in February. It has since bounced back to the current price of $41.94. Marchionne (63), who has been in charge of Fiat since 2004, and who engineered the unlikely takeover of Chrysler, which was completed in 2014, is due to retire from FCA at the end of 2018, but may stay on at Ferrari beyond that. Felisa is 68 and has been running Ferrari since he replaced Jean Todt in 2008. Marchionne has already made his presence felt in Formula 1 circles, doing all the decision-making and leading the opposition to the Formula One group in F1 politics.

There are some who believe that Marchionne's' primary aim now is to become the future head of a new Formula 1 commercial entity.

Dr Sviatoslav Rosov, an analyst at the CFA Institute, a global association of investment professionals, says that he believes that Marchionne will break up the FCA empire, selling the different constituent parts for as much money as he can raise for shareholders and will then “retire to play with his giant Formula 1 Scalextric set".

Marchionne believes that Ferrari can expand to producing 10,000 cars a year, but is opposed to diversifying into SUVs and electric vehicles. Joe Saward