Agnelli's grandson appointed to Fiat

ROME: Italy's most powerful industrial dynasty, the Agnellis, have chosen the grandson of family patriarch Gianni Agnelli to represent their interests on the board of car manufacturer Fiat.

Fiat said in a statement Thursday that John Elkann, the eldest son of Agnelli's daughter Margherita and her first husband Alain Elkann, would join the company's board.

The appointment follows the death from stomach cancer on Saturday of Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, nephew of Gianni Agnelli, who was being groomed to take over the chairmanship of Italy's biggest private industrial group.

Fiat said the appointment of Elkann to the board was the best way of ensuring the continuation of the family's association with the company, founded by Gianni Agnelli's grandfather, Giovanni Agnelli.

The appointment of Elkann shows the family did not want to lose any time in deciding who will represent its interests in Fiat in the years ahead and may even have made up its mind some time before Giovanni Alberto's death, analysts said.