Hurrying to meet a 30 April deadline to agree terms of an alliance, Fiat and Chrysler are discussing a new seven-member Chrysler board including Fiat representatives and possibly even members of the Obama administration’s autos task force, a media report said.
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Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne could be directly involved in running Chrysler, maybe even as chief executive, Automotive News reported, citing “sources close to the negotiations”.
Chrysler’s current CEO, and chairman, is Robert (Bob) Nardelli, recruited in 2007 from The Home Depot, where he was chairman, president and CEO from 2000, according to the automaker’s website. He had previously worked for conglomerate GE with an interim spell at construction equipment maker Case.
The auto trade paper said the new management structure would divide the CEO and chairman roles between two executives, with the Chrysler chairman most likely to be an American.
Neither automaker would comment.
Marchionne headed to Detroit for talks with Chrysler almost immediately after president Barack Obama on 30 March gave Chrysler and Fiat until 30 April to demonstrate a viable alliance. The US automaker had by then received $4bn in federal bailout loans and Obama suggested up to another $6bn would be forthcoming if an alliance with Fiat was completed.
Marchionne was again in the US talking to Chrysler just last week, anonymous sources “close to Fiat” told Reuters last Thursday.
Other recent reports, also citing anonymous sources, have said Fiat would initially take a 20% stake in Chrysler in return for access to the Italian automaker’s small car technology and vehicle platforms.
Separately, Automotive News reported, Boston Consulting Group had been awarded $7m by the US treasury Department to help assess both the Chrysler-Fiat alliance and General Motors’ restructuring plan.
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