Monday, March 30, 2009

Nardelli, Defying Skeptics, Digs In to Save Chrysler



AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — In his office at Chrysler’s world headquarters, Robert L. Nardelli, the chairman, works standing at an elevated desk. He thinks better on his feet, he said, even when he uses his computer.

But with the automaker Chrysler on the brink of insolvency, his legs must be getting sore.

Just two weeks remain before a presidential task force is scheduled to decide whether to save Chrysler and endorse its viability plan, and Mr. Nardelli has been putting in long hours to help save the company.

He prefers to wave off any discussion about his role as a central player in those efforts. “It’s not about Bob,” he said Monday in an interview. “If we’re able to do this, it’s because these people here have put together a plan we believe in.”

But, as the executive in charge, it inevitably is about Mr. Nardelli and his reputation. After his abrupt departure as chairman of the retailer Home Depot, Mr. Nardelli was viewed by many in the auto industry as a short-term chief executive when he was installed by Cerberus Capital Management after the private equity firm bought Chrysler in August 2007. Industry observers expected him to streamline Chrysler so Cerberus could sell it.

But in the 19 months since, Mr. Nardelli has become a passionate leader of Chrysler. Like Lee Iacocca in the 1980s, Mr. Nardelli, 60, is trying to make the case that the American auto industry is better off with Chrysler than without it.

“Quite honestly, we are in a survival mode,” he said. The company needs an additional $5 billion in government loans to survive, on top of the $4 billion it has received.

Chrysler’s updated restructuring plan, filed Feb. 17 with theTreasury Department, asserts that, if it receives an additional loan, it can stabilize its finances and grow beyond its core North American market. President Obama’s task force is now weighing that argument.


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