The Smell of Death
In 2004, the Fiat company was on the verge of bankruptcy. The current CEO, Sergio Marchionne, brought the carmaker back to profit in 2005 by slashing jobs and speeding up the introduction of new models, such as the retro Cinquecento, of which he said: "We are now the Apple of carmakers; the new 500 is our iPod."
Right now Fiat is the worlds No 2 automobile group, behind Toyata. But it was all not plain sailing, just 5 years back, and Fiat was on the verge of going under.
Italy’s biggest manufacturer had run up €8bn (RM 40bn) of losses in the four years before he took over. He has said of of the experience: "We spit blood to clean up and restart Fiat.
When I took over there was a smell of death here."
