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Journalism of Courage
Fiat on Wednesday unveiled a slimmed-down structure at its loss-making auto business scrapping units set up in a previous reorganisation in a bid to speed up decision making at its loss making core unit.
In the first major shakeup since CEO Sergio Marchionne was nominated in June, Fiat will do away with a structure in which the automaker’s brands were virtually autonomous, a system long criticised for its inefficiency, duplication and high bureaucratic costs.
Fiat, Italy’s largest industrial group, described the move as a ‘‘move beyond the old hierarchical structure’’. The plan makes Fiat Auto CEO Herbert Demel chief executive of the Fiat car brand as well, on an interim basis. Other top executives after the restructuring include Daniele Bandiera, head of the Alfa Romeo brand, and Luca De Meo, head of the Lancia brand. A Fiat spokesman declined to comment on possible cost savings from the new structure.
Fiat shares were unchanged on the news, trading at 5.87 euros at 1142 GMT, down 0.2 percent on the day and underperforming the DJ Stoxx index of auto stocks, up 0.6 per cent. Fiat Auto dragged Italy’s largest industrial group to a record loss in 2002 and is still struggling to reverse a sales slump despite having four new models on the market — part of a car-based recovery plan drawn up by former CEO Giuseppe Morchio.
