Martin Leach is to depart from Fiat next week, according to the normally reliable Italian news agencies, Ansa and Radiocor. An always well informed industry voice, Automotive News Europe, has also reported the same story.

The news comes hard on the heels of the sacking of Fiat Auto CEO Herbert Demel on Thursday, with Group CEO Sergio Marchionne stepping into the role, a position he has held in all but name for sometime now as the Austrian has been gradually marginalised.

Martin Leach, a former boss of Ford Europe, had been Fiat's initial choice for the Auto Division CEO job when Giancarlo Boschetti departed, but he was unable to accept the offer after his previous employers activated an anti-competitive clause in his contract, and the job went instead to Demel, who was appointed in November 2003.

Leach was instead given the position of CEO of Maserati, once his employment restrictions had been thrown out by a US judge.
 

Lach was in fact appointed by Marchionne's predecessor, Giuseppe Morchio, on 1st June 2004, with most onlookers merely regarding this new role as being a stepping stone to eventually replacing Demel. However Leach was given this position despite resistance of the then Ferrari-Maserati Group boss, Luca di Montezemolo, who today is actually Chairman of the overall Fiat Group.

It has also been reported widely that Leach has clashed with Marchionne, leaving him without influential friends at the top of the table. Bringing Maserati back into the Fiat Auto fold and associating it with Alfa Romeo has largely dissolved the role that Leach played. This fact was also a point that the two news agencies reported that their source had stressed.