Sergio Marchionne plans to step down after the five year, 48 Billion Euro plan has been completed.

Sergio Marchionne, Fiat's CEO and the architect of its merger with Chrysler, said that he plans to step down after completing a five-year strategic plan to expand the combined carmakers.

Marchionne said he will "undoubtedly" do something else after the end of 2018, adding "I am not going to do any more turnarounds. I'm done; let some of the young punks do it."

Marchionne, 62, is said his role may be split among more than one executive. "There are a number of things that the next CEO will do which are totally different from what I do," he said in an interview with Bloomberg Business week at the Balocco test track in northern Italy. "The role as presently configured will have to be reconfigured."

On May 6, Marchionne said that he would remain the CEO through at least 2018 -- two years longer than previously indicated -- to oversee the five-year business plan he and his executive team announced earlier in the day.

Strong candidates

Chairman John Elkann, 38, is not a candidate. Elkann is the leading member of the Agnelli clan, which founded Fiat and is still the company’s biggest shareholder. He plans to maintain the current arrangement of having a family member as chairman and a professional manager as leader of the group. "The most important thing is clarity," Elkann, who hired Marchionne from Swiss testing company SGS, said at the Balocco track. The family's non-executive role "has worked well," he said.

Elkann last year mentioned executives such as CNH Industrial CEO Richard Tobin; Alfredo Altavilla, Fiat's European chief; Mike Manley, head of the Jeep brand; and Cledorvino Belini, head of Fiat in Brazil, as managers who could eventually replace Marchionne.

"I’m comfortable with the bench we have," Elkann said at a separate meeting in his Turin office, which had previously been occupied by his grandfather, former Fiat Chairman Gianni Agnelli."We have strong candidates," he said, declining to comment on specific people.

Other interests

Marchionne, who calls Switzerland home even as he shuttles between Turin, Detroit and elsewhere, said he looks forward to having time to devote to other interests such as theoretical physics.

"You're asking me if there are other things I like to do apart from this?," said the former philosophy student. "Phenomenally, yes. I like to be able to think, and that's not always possible in this job."

Since taking charge of Fiat in June 2004, Marchionne has tripled the Italian automaker's revenue and operating profit. Now, with the merger into London-based Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, his goal is to boost net income five fold to about 5 billion euros ($6.3 billion) in 2018.

The goal is underpinned by a 48 billion-euro investment program that calls for developing more upscale vehicles, including new Alfa Romeo models built in Italy, and increasing Jeep's sales to 1.9 million cars by expanding the brand outside North America.

Presenting Fiat Chrysler's new business plan in May, Marchionne said he would stay on as CEO through at least 2018, two years longer than previously indicated.