Marchionne puts pressure on rivals.(Opinion)(Fiat S.p.A.)

Automotive News Europe, November, 2006 by Ciferri, Luca

Byline: Luca Ciferri

So far, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has been the champion of underpromising and overdelivering.

But the extremely aggressive 2010 targets he set this month will be the toughest test yet of his leadership.

At the group level, Marchionne wants to almost triple operating profit to [euro]5 billion. For Fiat Auto, his target is 3.5 million in unit sales, up from 2.1 million. Trading profit has to rise to between [euro]1.46 billion and [euro]1.72 billion.

This time, did Marchionne set goals that even he can't reach? The market is not sure.

Since the announcement, Fiat's stock has remained at about [euro]15 a share. Still, that's twice the price at the start of 2006, and triple Fiat's low of [euro]4.39,...

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