In Italy, it has been announced that John Elkann will become the new head of Fiat, at the age of 32.

Already vice chairman of Fiat, Elkann will replace 83-year-old Gianluigi Gabetti, a close associate of the billionaire Agnelli clan, which holds a 30 percent stake in Fiat.

The legendary Giovanni Agnelli, who died in January 2003 after more than 50 years at the helm of Fiat, had designated John Elkann, his grandson, as his successor.

The son of Agnelli's daughter Margherita and the writer Alain Elkann, John Elkann was born in New York and had a childhood in Britain, Brazil and France.

After finishing secondary school in 1994 in Paris, he took his grandfather's advice by going on to study industrial engineering in Turin, Italy, earning his degree in 2000.

Elkann only became a Fiat vice president in 2004.