AFP - Tuesday, August
7
Chrysler puts
ex-Home Depot boss in driver's seat
WASHINGTON (AFP) - - US carmaker Chrysler said Monday it had
appointed Robert Nardelli, the former head of home-improvement
chain Home Depot, as its new chairman and chief executive, as it
vies to turn around a sales decline.
The selection of Nardelli, who left Home Depot under a cloud
related to complaints about his compensation, comes after German
auto giant DaimlerChrysler on Friday completed a 7.4 billion-dollar
sale of its US arm Chrysler to Cerberus, a large private equity
firm.
"I'm looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting to work,"
Nardelli told a news conference and hundreds of workers gathered on
the lawn outside Chrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills,
Michigan.
Nardelli predicted a "bright future" for Chrysler, after jumping
out of one of the firm's new minivans to address reporters, but he
takes the driver's seat as the storied US automaker faces a road
beset with tough challenges.
The carmaker saw its US sales fall eight percent in July as it was
surpassed by Asian rival Honda for the first time.
Chrysler has slashed 6,000 jobs this year across its North American
operations following job losses last year, and is vying to regain
the profitability it enjoyed up until the second half of
2006.
July was also a bleak month for General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor
Company, who together with Chrysler make up the so-called Detroit
"Big Three" automakers.
The Big Three lost their grip over the US market for the first time
last month as foreign automakers -- including Toyota -- captured
more than half the sales in the US market.
Nardelli, who has no experience working in the auto industry, said
his top priorities for Chrysler were a rapid execution of strategy,
product safety and customer satisfaction.
Amid rock and roll, acrobats swinging across the Chrysler
building's facade and fireworks exploding off its roof, he stressed
that his compensation package was linked to Chrysler's ultimate
success.
He said he was moving from his home in Atlanta, Georgia, to
Detroit, Michigan, the US automotive capital, and boasted that he
was already the proud owner of a PT Cruiser and a Jeep, both
manufactured by Chrysler.
Nardelli said Tom LaSorda, whom he is replacing as CEO, will stay
on as a vice chairman and president of Chrysler. LaSorda will still
have a critical role in the firm and help oversee its talks with
the United Auto Workers union, he said.
The union talks are likely to be key to Chrysler's financial
future. The automaker is expected to obtain health-care concessions
similar to those the UAW has agreed with GM and Ford in 2005.
John Challenger, of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, an employment
consultancy, said: "Nardellis image, while tarnished, apparently
was not considered toxic by Cerberus Capital Management, Chryslers
new owners."
Nardelli exited Home Depot in January with a 210-million-dollar
severance payoff. He had been criticized by Home Depot shareholders
for his enormous pay package at a time when the share price of the
world's largest home-improvement chain had been depressed.
He declined to say what his pay and benefits package would be as
Chrysler's new CEO, saying: "We are not going to discuss
specifics."
Other industry analysts said Chrysler might be able to flourish
going forward under private ownership, partly as it will be able to
focus on more long-term goals out of the Wall Street limelight, as
it hopes to put its recent problems in the rear-view mirror.
Mike Tomlan, a Chrysler employee for more than 34 years, was
optimistic Nardelli could turn the company around. "We've done it
before and I don't see why we can't do it again."
Chrysler also announced it was dusting off its old Pentastar
corporate logo which first graced Chrysler vehicles in 1962.
The company also said it was launching a new advertising campaign,
as it staged a rally for employees outside its headquarters in a
bid to fire up morale.
Nardelli is not the only outsider to be called in to run a big US
automaker. Ford recruited the former head of aerospace giant
Boeing, Alan Mulally, as chief executive.
DaimlerChrysler, which has retained a 20 percent stake in Chrysler,
is reverting its name to Daimler. Chrysler markets a range of
vehicles including cars, jeeps and minivans.