HomeMediaTalent, not technology, is key to automotive future, says FCA’s young chairman

Talent, not technology, is key to automotive future, says FCA’s young chairman

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Imagine, you are an 18-year-old engineering student when your grandfather taps you to join the board of directors of the one of the world’s largest car companies. A decade later, just as you are about to marry a princess, your grandfather, a legendary figure, dies and you become the chairman of a company now on the brink of bankruptcy.

John Elkann doesn’t have to imagine that scenario. He lived it. And Gianni Agnelli’s grandson, who heads not only Fiat but also Ferrari, hired Sergio Marchionne as chief executive of Fiat, absorbed Chrysler as a partner, and nearly pulled off a merger with Renault.

Recently, the now 42-year-old and his princess bride and their three children made their first visit to Monterey Car Week where Elkann was scheduled to be part of a panel presentation on family legacies and preserving automotive enthusiasm during an era of revolutionary automotive technology. 

However, almost immediately the event evolved into an interview of Elkann, who emerged as perhaps the most interesting person in the automotive world.

While Elkann said his focus is on future product, “I’ve been very surprised by the amount of passion about cars and the history of cars” that he had seen in Monterey, “and a number are our brands,” including Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati and, or course, Ferrari.

He also noted that based on current values, he wished he’d have kept quite a few of the cars he’s owned through the years. 

It was not only in Monterey that Elkann observed such passion, he said, noting that 50,000 people lined historic Woodward Avenue north of Detroit where another of his company’s brands, Dodge, sponsored a throwback street racing event.

With so many brands in the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles portfolio (Ferrari has been spun off as a separate company), one of Elkann’s missions is to make sure each brand remains “distinguished and unique,” and remains true to its heritage, but also relevant in a changing world, and to do so even as technologies are shared across the marques and models, and all while meeting customer expectations in a variety of geographic regions.

For example, could a plug-in hybrid powertrain actually enhance the off-road capability of a Jeep, while also keeping it relevant in regions limiting the use of petroleum fuel? Consider, for example, the 1,000 horsepower Ferrari hybrid that’s coming, he said. With its immediate torque, electricity gets you going, and then the internal combustion engine keeps you going.

By the way, he added, of all of FCA’s brands, Jeep is the largest in global sales volume. 

Another brand growing in importance is Maserati, which FCA has designated to become its challenger for Porsche as that traditional sports car brand not only adds sedans and SUVs to its lineup but as it electrifies its powertrains.

Looking toward the future of automotive technology, Elkann shared his vision of the timelines. 

Electrification on a wide scale is 10 to 20 years in the future, he said, adding that hybrids and vehicles running on natural gas are also among the possible solutions to reducing emissions in the short term,

Autonomous vehicles are 20 to 25 years out, and at first such self-driving technologies will be focused on commercial vehicles, such as robotic taxis and those delivering packages from Amazon.

While you might expect such issues to weigh heavily on the mind of a young chairman, Elkann said the key to the future for his company involves people not much older than he was when his grandfather brought him aboard.

The key, he said, is “attracting talented people in their early 20s to your industry and to your company. They will determine (your success) for the next 25 years.”

And isn’t that’s what Elkann’s grandfather did nearly 25 years ago when he brought his grandson aboard?

 

Larry Edsall
Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

4 COMMENTS

  1. I would agree with most of his views, especially so on his point of making sure each division (brand) remains "distinguished & unique". Something G.M. needs to RELEARN, turn back the clock as far as humanly possible & immediately put into use as their daily practice.

    • The statement made is mostly correct that 20 somethings will bring the future the automotive development, however speaking as a 73 year old car guy, the past must stay ever present in the design concepts. "Forgetting your past leaves you no direction for your future".

  2. This is a great puff piece- unfortunately FIAT and any brand they’ve had their hand in is not known for reliability, durability, or resale- you can argue that their one-offs by such brands like Ferrari are immune to this, which is true. But that is the exception to the rule, the overwhelming majority of what they pump out is junk

    • I find it quite telling that someone calls any car made in 2019 in a modern country "junk." Apparently, your standard for "not junk" is a first world problem, and perhaps not based in reality but more likely just repeating what you’ve heard, ad nauseum, because from perusing reliability ratings, Fiats and Alfa Romeos, etc., tend to be no less reliable on average than some other highly reputable brands. They may not be the top of the pack, but when a much panned (reliability-wise) Alfa Romeo Giulia is outscoring a Mercedes on the reliability charts (though probably within a probable error range), the problem isn’t reality of AR, it’s perception driven by mindset and idle talk.

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