Analysis: di Montezemolo Keeps it in the Family

The man who pulled Fiat's sports car unit Ferrari out of the doldrums and turned it into a commercially successful iconic global brand - as well as the dominant force in motor racing - has ties with the Fiat-controlling Agnelli family that go back decades.

A charismatic manager with strong political connections, the 56-year-old also has a reputation for being obsessive about detail and getting things done his way.

That probably explains why Fiat's hard-nosed chief executive Giuseppe Morchio quit the moment di Montezemolo was appointed to replace former chairman Umberto Agnelli who died from cancer on Thursday, little more than a year after taking the top seat.

Both Morchio and Montezemolo are known as no-nonsense managers who want free rein to run things as they see fit.

When di Montezemolo was named as head of Italy's prestigious employers association Confindustria in March, he called for a new way of doing business in Italy and swept out almost all his predecessor's top men, replacing them with younger managers.

Similarly, since Morchio took over as Fiat CEO last year, he has replaced a raft of senior managers at the group and revelled in his reputation as an outsider brought in to revive a company dominated by the Agnellis and life-time employees.

Di Montezemolo has worked on-and-off for Fiat, its publishing unit and its sports car jewel Ferrari since he was in his 20s, but he also organised the 1990 soccer World Cup in Italy and set up the first Italian boat to race in the America's Cup.

Despite his aristocratic lineage and credentials that could cast him as part of Italy's old guard, di Montezemolo is one of the country's most respected and high-profile businessmen.

When Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi swept to power in 2001 he asked di Montezemolo to be industry minister but was turned down in favour of Ferrari. When di Montezemolo was named to Fiat's board last year, the group's share price jumped.

Di Montezemolo was a close and trusted friend of Fiat's patriarch Gianni Agnelli who died last year and, having trained as a lawyer in Rome and New York, is called "Avvocato" by his staff, just as Agnelli was.

He will now work alongside Agnelli's 28-year-old grandson and heir John Elkann who was named vice-chairman of Fiat on Sunday.

Di Montezemolo shares Agnelli's legendary passion for cars, jumping up and down like a little boy as a new Ferrari race car screamed along the test track and braked to a halt in seconds.

He will now have to infuse the same sort of passion in to the small runaround cars that are Fiat's bread and butter.

Morchio's respected four-year plan to pull Fiat out of its worst crisis is based on reviving sales at Fiat Auto - which accounts for about half the group's revenue - with a fleet of new cars to win back buyers who spurned its old line-up.

Analysts have often said Fiat needs to recover its "Italian character". As a man who is pumping millions of his own money into Italian luxury brands to expand abroad, di Montezemolo might be their man.