TURIN – Fiat Chrysler has announced Luca di Montezemolo’s resignation; the chairman of Ferrari is to be replaced by Sergio Marchionne after almost 23 years in the job.

 The resignation is due to come into effect Oct. 13 at the end of celebrations marking parent company Fiat Chrysler’s sixty years in the U.S. .

 Montezemolo has held the position since 1991, with his career spanning the rise of Ferrari as a global brand and great Formula One success in the Michael Schumacher era of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the driver won seven world championships.

 “I want personally to thank Luca for what he has done for Fiat, for Ferrari, and for me,” said Marchionne, the Chief Executive Officer of Fiat and the new head of Ferrari.

 Montezemolo himself said of his time in the role: “Ferrari is the greatest company in the world, and for me it has been a great honour and a privilege to have been its leader. I have dedicated to it all of my effort and enthusiasm. Along with my family, it has been, and remains to be, the most important thing in my life.”