美国国家公共电台 NPR Fiat Chrysler's New CEO Faces Twin Challenges: China And Tariffs

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NOEL KING, HOST:

Sergio Marchionne, the former CEO of Fiat¹ Chrysler, has died. He was 66 years old. Marchionne is credited with turning the company around. Here he is talking with NPR's Renee Montagne in 2013.

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SERGIO MARCHIONNE: There's not a single doubt in my mind that the whole of Chrysler organization views itself as an American car producer. We are still here today because somebody took a hell of a gamble on us, and we're never going to forget this. The House knows this.

KING: NPR's Dustin Dwyer has been covering this story. Good morning, Dustin.

DUSTIN DWYER, BYLINE²: Good morning.

KING: All right. Start by telling us a little bit about Sergio Marchionne. He was known for his charisma³ as a CEO, wasn't he?

DWYER: Yeah. He really stood out among Detroit auto⁴ executives and, really, among all CEOs. He had a distinctive⁵ style. I mean, the first thing you'd note about Sergio Marchionne is that he never wore a suit. He would show up in his trademark⁶ black sweater. Some people said he looked a bit frumpy, but the results were there. He was from the beginning. The first time he showed up on the scene as part of Chrysler in 2009, he really just looked different. He sounded different. He was plainspoken. He was blunt. And he did something that no one else could do. He turned around Chrysler and really saved the company.

KING: He was 66 years old, which is relatively⁷ young. Do we know what caused his death?

DWYER: We really don't know at this point. It was very sudden and unexpected. The company Fiat Chrysler put out a brief statement over the weekend saying that he had had a health crisis during surgery and that he would not be able to return to the job. They named a new CEO. We have not been given a cause of death just yet. An Italian newspaper reported that he had a form of cancer in his shoulder, and during surgery, he suffered from an embolism. But again, that's unconfirmed. The company hasn't said yet. All we know for sure is that it was sudden and quite shocking.

KING: Chrysler just released its latest earnings⁸ report this morning. What did we learn?

DWYER: Well, the company reported profits of 754 million euros - that's $882 million - for the second quarter, which, I should just say, looking back to when Sergio Marchionne took over the company, a profit of $882 million in a quarter would have been a miracle. But in today's Fiat Chrysler, it was down 35 percent compared to the same period last year. So investors⁹ aren't pleased about that. The company says its full-year earnings are still going to come in. Its profits are going to come in where it was expected, though revenues will be down. So it's just a different standard for Fiat Chrysler right now that they're really raking in the profits. But they're expected to rake in profits these days. So investors expect a lot more of them than they used to.

KING: Who takes over for Marchionne?

DWYER: His name is Michael Manley. He's run the Jeep brand since, really, Marchionne has been at Fiat Chrysler, since 2009. And Michael Manley is credited with really building Jeep up over the years. It's always been a well-known brand in the United States, but it didn't have huge sales. Under Manley, Jeep quadrupled its sales since 2009 and really is the future of Fiat Chrysler. So Michael Manley is leading Fiat Chrysler going forward, and we take that to mean that Jeep and also the Ram¹⁰ brand will be very important for the company.

KING: NPR's Dustin Dwyer. Thank you, Dustin.

DWYER: Thank you.

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