If you can avoid it, never get into a position where Sergio Marchionne can force you to play poker. That applies literally, as Fiat executives who fly on its (rented) corporate jet know, and metaphorically, as other companies have discovered in the past decade.
The negotiation that concluded last week, in which Fiat took full control of Chrysler to form the world’s seventh-largest auto company last week, was an object lesson. The Chrysler union’s healthcare trust had forced the company to file for an initial public offering to frighten Mr Marchionne into paying a higher price but he still got what he wanted for only $4.35bn.
Despite having been in charge of Fiat for a decade, the Canadian-Italian executive is an odd man out in the auto industry – neither an engineer such as Martin Winterkorn of Volkswagen, nor an all-round executive such as Alan Mulally of Ford. He is a lone dealmaker who runs Fiat and Chrysler like an autocrat with an entourage.