Luca di Montezemolo steps down

Luca di Montezemolo will quit as Fiat chairman, the company has announced in a statement. However, di Montezemolo will stay on Fiat Group's board and will remain chairman of Ferrari.

The statement said Montezemolo is stepping down on the eve of the presentation of Fiat Group's 2010-2014 business plan because he has "completed the assignment given to him" when he was appointed chairman in May 2004.

However, it is reported that di Montezemolo is quitting the post because he does not agree with CEO Sergio Marchionne's future strategy for Fiat. It is also anticipated that di Montezemolo, 62, is likely to look for a career in politics now.

Montezemolo had joined FIAT in 1972 and a year later was moved to Ferrari, where he became Enzo Ferrari's assistant and, in 1974, manager of the Scuderia. In 1975, Montezemolo was promoted out of Ferrari to be head of all FIAT racing activities, and in 1977 he advanced to become a senior manager of FIAT.

In November 1991, FIAT chairman Gianni Agnelli made Montezemolo president of Ferrari, which had been struggling since Enzo Ferrari's death; Montezemolo made it his personal goal to win the Formula One World Constructors' Championship once again. Montezemolo quickly made changes at the Italian team, signing up Niki Lauda as consultant. During the 1990s he resurrected the Ferrari road car business from heavy debts into solid profit.

Under di Montezemolo and executive director Jean Todt, the Ferrari Formula One team won the World Drivers Championship in 2000, for the first time since 1979. The previous year, 1999, they had won the constructors championship for the first time since 1983, and continued the winning streak till 2004.

In 2004 he was elected chairman of FIAT, Ferrari's mother company. In July 2008, Montezemolo founded the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) which he presided over from 2008-2010, eventually being replaced by McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh.