When Italian carmaker Fiat chose Sergio Marchionne to head up the iconic Italian carmaker it was close to collapse. After the death of Umberto Angelli, a member of Fiat’s founding family passed away, the board of the carmaker took Marchionne from SGS, a health inspection firm. Marchionne cut through the flab at the Italian carmaker and helped it return to profit. He also oversaw the takeover of iconic American carmaker Chrysler by the Italian brand after it was rescued by US Government bailouts during the 2008-09 financial crisis. He worked towards merging the two brands into Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and pushed for the development of the Jeep brand as the company’s primary brand going forward as the world adopted Sports Utility Vehicles and also pushed for the development of the Jeep Compass and its subsequent global production in Ranjangaon, Maharashtra.

However, despite some successes, FCA is swimming against the tide in global automotive marketplace trailing behind behemoths like Toyota, the Volkswagen Group and Hyundai-Kia and has been slow to adopt developing technologies such as autonomous vehicles and electric cars which led the straight-talking Marchionne to state that FCA needs to merge with another company going forward. He also ensured that FCA spun-off Ferrari, the Italian supercar brand and played a role in ensuring Scuderia Ferrari, the brands famous Formula 1 team was able to put in place a strategy for its revival after years of decline with the ascendancy of Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG.

Marchionne died after complications following a surgery last week, and FCA had on Sunday announced that Mike Manley, who headed Jeep’s revival over the past few years as FCA’s new Chief Executive Officer. The company will continue to follow the path laid out by Marchionne, the charismatic automotive executive and the world has lost one of the last true characters in the industry.