Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has been named 2008 Industry Leader of the Year by Automotive News Europe magazine.
The online publication praised the Italo-Canadian for turning the Italian carmaker around after arriving in June 2004, ''when Fiat was losing $3.7 million a day and its market share was plummeting''.
Today, the magazine observed, Fiat Group Automobiles is generating profits and expanding its market share.
''Under Marchionne's guidance, Fiat has struck over 30 targeted alliances with other car and commercial vehicle producers and component makers''.
Fiat's achievements are even more outstanding, Automotive News added, because they were made possible ''by a 56-year-old man who had never previously worked in the automotive sector''.
''He drastically transformed the way Fiat worked and appointed new and young faces to positions of responsibility, who revitalised the development of products and the sales network and produced vehicles for markets with the highest growth,'' the magazine observed.
