All In The Family

Sunday, Jun. 25, 2006 By JEFF ISRAELY/TURIN

THE FUTURE: Fiat heir apparent Elkann, on the old test track of Fiat's HQ in Turin; the Agnelli's Renzo Piano-designed gallery is behind

Photograph for TIME by GIANNI GIANSANTI

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Photograph for TIME by GIANNI GIANSANTI

HANDS ON THE WHEELS: Elkann confers with Fiat CEO Marchionne at the company's headquarters

The public outpouring in Italy when his grandfather died, with top political leaders and ordinary citizens flocking to the wake and funeral, sealed the family's decision to commit to Fiat's future — even if it meant the hard work of selling assets, overhauling management and reinvesting in the core company, hardly the typical Italian way of doing business. "This country paid a great tribute to my grandfather," Elkann said. "It was a family feeling to respond."

Though it unfolds like a Victorian play, Elkann insists that his ascendancy to the Fiat throne was "very natural." Born in New York City and raised in Britain, Brazil and France, he returned to his parents' hometown of Turin to study engineering at the rigorous Politecnico University. That was when Elkann began to pass Sundays on the family yacht and afternoons at the Fiat offices with Agnelli, who was then still Fiat's chairman. Speaking from his corner office — the same space at company headquarters Agnelli once occupied — Elkann recalled how he first inched into the family business under his grandfather's watch. "I saw him here, or maybe on the boat," he said. "I would ask questions, and he always responded."

Not yet 20, it was clear that he had a deep drive for business. Between his university exams, Elkann would forego vacations to embark on internships within the company's holdings — at a Birmingham headlight plant, a Lille Fiat dealership, a Krakow assembly line. "It was a gradual process of being tested and wanting to be tested," Elkann recalled. "[Agnelli] saw that I was committed to the work. He believed you should do what you like doing in life. He believed in people developing the capabilities they're most suited for."

In the Agnelli bloodline, that often means entrepreneurialism. Fiat was founded in 1899 by Giovanni Agnelli, a wealthy Turinese landowner, who imported Henry Ford's assembly line. He chose Gianni, his grandson, as his business heir after Gianni's father was killed in a 1935 plane accident, just as Gianni would later anoint Elkann. With his aquiline features and elegant but easygoing manner, Elkann certainly evokes his grandpa, among the 20th century's most admired business leaders and the epitome of globetrotting savoir faire. Henry Kissinger, a longtime close Agnelli friend, says it's too early to try to measure Elkann up to his legendary forebear. But having known the grandson since he was 12, Kissinger says Elkann has all the tools to become a formidable leader. "He is extremely intelligent and has a great sense of responsibility," Kissinger told Time. "I've seen, in the past few years, he has managed several crises with extreme dignity and wisdom."

Such leadership is vital in a dynasty with a Kennedyesque whiff of tragedy. The originally anointed successor to Gianni Agnelli was Umberto's eldest son, Giovanni Alberto, who died rather suddenly from fast-spreading stomach cancer in 1997 at 33. Gianni's only son, Edoardo, who battled depression and did not partake in the family business, committed suicide by jumping from an overpass in 2000. Just last year, Elkann's younger brother, Lapo, head of Fiat marketing, nearly died from a cocaine overdose.

Elkann absorbed himself in business instead. After getting his degree, Elkann entered General Electric's highly competitive Corporate Audit Staff program, where he mixed with other future business leaders and got hooked on high finance. Back at Vittoria, as he zips through his lunch, Elkann extols the benefits of knowing the books. "Finance is applied to everything," he says. "Look at this restaurant: maybe it seems overstaffed, but then you see that they move people in and out quickly, and you know that has a value." One factor that Elkann is indeed constantly weighing is time. His Blackberry is in subtle but continuous motion, out of and back into his jacket pocket. Elkann says his grandfather, who is universally remembered for his graciousness, could also cut you short. "The problem is speed," he explained. "He was impatient. He had a capacity to get to the point, and always wanted to get to that which is essential without wasting time." That's how Elkann often sees dining. "Long meals I find to be painful," he says.