MILAN, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is likely to step down towards the end of the year as chairman of Ferrari after clashes over strategy with Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of parent group Fiat, two sources close to the matter said on Monday.
Montezemolo, who has been chairman of Ferrari since 1991, wants to keep Ferrari autonomous. He has limited sales to around 7,000 cars a year to preserve the luxury carmaker's exclusivity.
Marchionne, however, has been trying to better integrate the sportscar brand into the Fiat group to boost its push into the broader premium end of the car market as it seeks to rival the likes of Volkswagen and BMW.
Fiat, which owns 90 percent of Ferrari, is completing a merger with U.S. unit Chrysler and plans to list shares in the merged Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in New York next month.
"In my opinion the differences between Marchionne and Montezemolo cannot be reconciled," one of the sources said.
Ferrari's board meets on Thursday to approve first-half results. But the source added it did not think that a decision over Montezemolo's future would be taken at that meeting.
"His exit could happen by the end of this year," the source said.
A second source added that the matter would take more than weeks to be resolved. Both Ferrari and Fiat declined to comment on Montezemolo's future.
On Sunday Marchionne said Montezemolo's departure as Ferrari's chairman was "not on the agenda", but also added that "no one is indispensable". His comments came a day after Montezemolo himself dismissed what he described as rumours about his departure, saying he had no immediate plans to step down.
Montezemolo, 67, was re-appointed chairman in March and has since repeated on several occasions that he is ready to serve three more years.
Marchionne said on Sunday the recent disappointing performance of Ferrari's Formula One racing team was "unacceptable" and that it was "absolutely non-negotiable" that Ferrari should win Formula One races. (Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo; Writing by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Greg Mahlich)