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Sergio Marchionne, One of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World

In 2009, when the automotive industry was shaking in fear, one man managed to rise above all others and show that, when one wants, one can. At the time, GM was changing CEO's faster than cars rolled out its assembly lines, Chrysler was fighting to find hope either in the US or Canada, while the producers in Europe were scrambling to cut their losses and find new owners, preferably ones not strapped for cash.

In 2009, Sergio Marchionne was on a roll. He gunned for Chrysler, Opel, and some say some other brands as well, hoping to increase the size of Italian group Fiat. He managed to get his hands on most of Chrsyler, but because of the GM backstabbing, he missed out on incorporating Opel into the empire he was building at the time.

Two years later, Marchionne heads both the Fiat group and Chrysler. Running in between two continents, he still finds time to do a bit of market analysis, negotiate with unions and announce more and more expansion plans.

He is, at the same time, a member of the board of Philip Morris International, a member of the General Council of Confindustria, member of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, member of the board of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Chairman of the Italian Branch of the Council for the United States in Italy. And we could go on and on and on (as seems to be doing Marchionne).

For the reasons mentioned above (and we reckon for others as well), TIME Magazine included Marchionne on its annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Do you think he deserves the honor? Use the comment box below.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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