(ANSA) - Fiat heir Lapo Elkann on Wednesday came out of a coma after a drug overdose, doctors said.
The 28-year-old Agnelli heir sat up and exchanged a few words with his sister Ginevra. His elder brother John was also on hand. Psychiatrists asked Elkann questions in Italian, French and English, the languages he speaks fluently.
The response was "positive," they said.
Earlier, doctors said the Fiat manager had suffered no brain damage.
They said he might leave the re-animation unit of a Turin hospital as early as Thursday evening or as late as Friday.
The next medical bulletin had been deliberately scheduled for slightly later than usual, 14:00 on Thursday, to take into account the possibility that Elkann might already have been moved to a normal ward. Giuseppe Spina, head of the reanimation unit, said there was no truth in Wednesday's newspaper reports that Elkann had suffered a respiratory or heart "crisis."
"These are just inventions that made me angry," Spina said.
Elkann, 28, the grandson of the late Fiat patriarch Gianni Agnelli, heads Fiat's Brand Promotion division. Three Fiat security guards stood watch on Tuesday outside the hospital building where Elkann was being treated. He was taken into hospital on Monday morning. Police said he was suffering from the effects of a cocaine overdose. Later newspaper reports claimed he had taken a potentially lethal cocktail of heroin and cocaine, washed down by alcohol.
In its only statement on the case, Fiat said the manager had "respiratory problems caused by medication."
The circumstances in which Elkann was taken ill began to emerge on Tuesday as prosecutors in Turin tried to establish the origin of the drugs that he is believed to have taken. Investigators were looking at the possibility that the young Fiat executive was given a badly cut, or impure dose of cocaine, heroin or other substance.
Police have established that Elkann arrived at about 11 pm on Sunday at a Turin apartment belonging to a 50-year-old transsexual, identified as Lino B.. During the night two other transsexuals, an Italian and a Brazilian, arrived. The three have already been traced and questioned by police. They reportedly denied taking drugs themselves, claiming that Elkann was the only one to take any. They said he had brought the narcotics with him.
Possession of small amounts of cocaine for personal use is not illegal in Italy.
According to sources, Lino B. was eventually left alone with Elkann and went to sleep. When he woke up at about 9 am, he noticed that the Fiat manager was wheezing heavily and immediately called an ambulance.
Prosecutors said they planned to talk to Elkann as soon as he is well enough to reply to their questions. Lapo and elder brother John, 29 - the unanointed heir to Agnelli dynasty - are the sons of Gianni Agnell's daughter Margherita and the writer Alain Elkann. Both parents arrived in Turin on Tuesday to visit their son.
Lapo has successfully launched new sportswear and leatherware lines with the Fiat logo to enhance the car maker's image. He often attends soccer matches of family club Juventus with other members of the Agnelli clan.
Italy's leading engineering union, Fiom, stressed on Tuesday that the case would not affect the company. It was echoed by Fiat chief Luca di Montezemolo on Wednesday. Asked if the episode would have repercussions for Fiat, Montezemolo said: "No."
