John Elkann, Exor’s Premier Wheeler-Dealer

Many auto mergers have ended up being duds—think Daimler-Chrysler, General Motors-Fiat, and Ford’s rollup of Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, and Aston Martin. But Elkann has managed to pull off two that have gone extremely well: first, Fiat with Chrysler, after the global financial crisis; and now Fiat Chrysler with PSA, maker of Peugeot and Citroën vehicles, among others. When the Italian-American and French carmakers combined, Stellantis became the fourth-largest automaker in the world and the second-largest in Europe behind Volkswagen.

Elkann not only managed to complete the deal during a pandemic, but he did so despite needing to patch things up with PSA following a short-lived attempt to join forces with its archrival, Renault SA. The completed merger marked the most substantial step in decades toward the consolidation many auto executives have called for. Joining forces will allow pooling of resources to develop electric vehicles, help that Fiat Chrysler sorely needed, and PSA will no longer miss out on the highly profitable North American market, where its new partner’s Jeep SUVs and Ram pickups mint money.