Fiat UK chief exits after just two years
Fiat Auto UK managing director Massimo Toso is to leave the company after two years. It is not known whether he has a job to got to.
The Italian car manufacturer denies that Toso is leaving, but it is understood that he will be replaced by someone from Fiat’s luxury car brand Alfa Romeo in Spain.
Toso was appointed UK managing director in August 2002 to replace Jim Blades, who left the company suddenly. He was previously the financial controller of the Fiat business unit at its Turin headquarters.
Fiat Auto appointed Claudio San Pedro as global head of marketing and communications for the main Fiat brand in October (MW October 28, 2004). He replaced Erlana Castro, who moved to Brazil to take up a marketing position with Fiat Auto Brazil. San Pedro oversees Fiat’s relationship with Leo Burnett, which handles its advertising across Europe.
In September, the car company promoted the heir to the dynasty controlling a third of the Fiat empire, Lapo Elkann, to head of brand promotion for all its brands (MW September 9, 2004). Elkann is the grandson of the late Gianni Agnelli. The appointment was part of a fundamental restructure of the loss-making business that saw power centralised under new chief executive Herbert Demel.
