NGV Global

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chrysler

“Natural gas is the only real, immediate alternative to petrol.”

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Group and Chrysler Group, has a vision for a car industry faced with profound economic and environmental issues around the world. Manufacturers and politicians are being compelled to rethink the automotive business model — Marchionne suggests that change must be virtuous, unified and realistic for it to succeed. His musings are reported in the Economist (The World in 2010 print edition), where he encourages adoption of a different approach, one that moves from viewing the automobile as a stand-alone object to one that sees it as a component in a much larger system.

He refers to natural gas fuel to illustrate his point. “Today, it is the only real, immediate alternative to petrol. It is the most eco-friendly fuel available in nature, the cheapest for customers—costing 30% less than diesel and half the price of gasoline. Yet in Europe use of natural-gas vehicles is derisory. One weak link in the chain can negate many of the advantages that innovation offers.”

Drawing inspiration from the Obama-led industry-focused task force whose mission is to transform the crisis into an opportunity, Marchionne see the disparate efforts of individual European countries as missing the mark; opportunity, he declares, lies in a unified vision that addresses the underlying causes, not in an array of country-based incentives and financial support, nor in the EU drive for lower emissions with a “ridiculously absurd cost-benefit ratio.”

“My point is that technological evolution must also be viable in relation to the evolution of the market. Great crises can accelerate change. They provide the opportunity to confront structural problems with determination and speed, but only if we accept these actions as inevitable and necessary. Creating the conditions for virtuous change is the real challenge of our times.”

Print PDF