The Quandts and the Agnellis might end up owning a third each of a combined group.

ECONOMIST: Chrysler��s sold, Volvo��s too expensive. How about BMW?

Mr Elkann is also chairman of Exor, the Agnellis' listed investment company which holds a 30% stake in Fiat.

ECONOMIST: A plan for Fiat and Chrysler

Astonishingly, then, the fate of the Agnellis' stake in Fiat depends in part on what Fiat's new, non-family chairman does for the firm's share price.

ECONOMIST: The Agnelli investment vehicle

The oil cash of the Moratti family went into Inter Milan, the Lauros' ships built up the main Neapolitan team, and the Agnellis' Fiat fortune put pep into Juventus in Turin.

ECONOMIST: The politics of Italian football

The car company (30%-owned by the Agnellis) is creating an Internet portal, selling everything produced not just by Fiat, but also by the various industrial and financial interests of the Agnellis' separate conglomerate, Ifil.

ECONOMIST: Cars

The Agnellis resisted several foreign attempts to take over the group throughout the 1990s, but eventually did a deal with General Motors under which the American carmaker bought 20% of Fiat Auto, and Fiat Auto acquired 5% of GM (which it has since sold to raise cash).

ECONOMIST: The end of an era | The