He told Automotive News Europe in December: "As far as mass-producers are concerned, we're going to end up with one American, one German of size, one French-Japanese, maybe with an extension in the US, one in Japan, one in China and one potential European player."

Little known in 2004 when he took the helm of the Italian auto icon on the verge of collapse, Marchionne quickly won over the media, unions and politicians by turning the company around without massive job cuts.

His first big coup came in 2005 when he wrested €1.55-billionfrom General Motors in a tense game of bluff in exchange for dropping a threat to force GM to buy Fiat's then moribund auto unit under an existing agreement.

The same year, thanks to cost reductions and the launching of new models, Fiat turned a profit for the first time for four years.

An implaceable boss

Marchionne has a penchant for projecting a casual style to the media, but the tall, round-faced Marchionne is an implaceable boss who let go dozens of veteran apparatchiks in favour of young Turks to head up the group's main brands: Fiat, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Lancia.

"I'm always assessing my staff; I give them grades and I tell them to watch out — if they don't pull their weight, they're out," he once said.

Since the start of the world financial crisis, Marchionne has not wasted a moment to adapt, insisting in December that the choice was to grow or die.

Not even one month later, a preliminary agreement was reached with Chrysler.

Born in Italy in 1952 but raised by his Italian parents in Canada, Marchionne has dual nationality. After studying law and management in Canada, he began his career as a tax expert for Deloitte and Touche.

Before joining Fiat, Marchionne was general director of the Swiss quality-assurance giant SGS, of which he is still president.

He is also a non-executive vice president of the Swiss bank UBS. But he has signalled recently that he will cut back on such external responsibilities because "I can't do it all."