Reinvent or die: Fiat CEO to car companies

DETROIT: Sergio Marchionne, one of the longest-serving CEOs in the automotive industry, has a blunt warning: Carmakers have less than a decade to reinvent themselves or risk being commoditised amid a seismic shift in how vehicles are powered, driven and purchased.

Developing technologies like electrification, self-driving software and ride-sharing will alter consumers’ car-buying decisions within six or seven years, the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV CEO said, ahead of this week’s North American International Auto Show. The industry will divide into segments, with premium brands managing to hold onto their cachet while mere people-transporters struggle to cope with the onslaught from disruptors like Tesla and Google’s Waymo.

“Auto companies need to quickly separate the stuff that will be swallowed by commodity from the brand stuff,” Marchionne said. Marchionne has witnessed major changes already leading Fiat for almost 14 years, overseeing the combination with Chrysler in 2014 and the 2016 spinoff of Ferrari NV.