Wasn't this guy pressured to step down from Home Depot basically because of his dismal performance there?

How does Chrysler justify hiring a failure to run things for them? He couldn't do it at Home Depot, but he'll do better here.

No wonder so many companies are losing so much money with this kind of reasoning.

Was he talking about the 'gas' pedal, the 'clutch' pedal or the 'brake' pedal?

Nardelli will only be satisfied when wages in the auto industry match those in retail.

When Chrysler's workers are making $9 per hour and are as demoralized as those at Home Depot; beware that the wheels do not fall off the car!

I would like to see them make a smaller van that get's 35 mpg. The caliber is form over function. A good economy car in the lineup would help too.

That photo captured Nardelli telling the investors that had it not been for the fact that his prostate was the size of a Casaba Mellon, the stock would have sored like Ashcroft's Eagle.

Wow, this guy is tough! Imagine if the Federal Government had been as tough with Our Money back when Lee Iacocca asked for a bailout?

Maybe they should go back to making things out of metal...if you powder-coat it, it'll never rust.

The Primary Tooling will almost certainly be Chrysler's .. the Secondary Tooling and assembly fixture's etc. are probably not.
Chrysler is a dead Co. walking.
With Nardelli's latest move against a Supplier, it demonstrates how he knows nothing of the Big 3 auto industry.
Each of the Big 3 have a "troubled supplier group" wherein they essentially take care of the supplier until it can be re-financed, sold off or the parts re-sourced.
This is or has become a necessity given the state of the supply base.
That is why both GM and Ford were actively involved with Plastech, ensuring that the parts were available etc.
He can try and move the part business to other suppliers, however, those prospects are not that rosy.
Those suppliers aren't going to accept new business at prices that are below the cost of production and Chrysler has no leverage to persuade them to do so. [BTW each of the Big 3 have unsuccessfully tried this before]
Nardelli is going to cut the Product line by ~40-50% which will further scare off potential Suppliers not to mention really make a lot of prior Customers very upset.
This to save the spending [Cash] of the normal billions required to invest in new Products each year by Automotive Companies.

He is also attempting to reduce the Dealership roles by huge amount as well.

All this in an attempt to stop the Huge daily Cash burn. Those Private Equity guys must be sweating it as each day they have to pour more millions into this Company with nothing on the Horizon other than doom.
Going into a recession, paid too much for the Co. and declining Sales and Market Share.

It's a sad realization, however, the end of a once Great American Company is near at hand.

Maybe they will find an off-shore company to pick up the pieces or try and sell off the Jeep Brand .... only time will tell.

Spend your new car money wisely !

These moves are strikingly similar to what Steve Jobs did when he came back to Apple a few years ago. Drastically reduce the number of models, reduce the number of dealers, and consolidate all sales under Apple's direct control. Unfortunately Nardelli didn't make the announcement that really matters: that they will be phasing out the production of fossil fuel burning vehicles and moving to electric cars. Without that everything else is just marking time.

But it was the last line in the article that really caught my attention. "Nardelli's unspoken mission all along has been to get Chrysler in shape for sale to another buyer - likely another auto company. With its strongest brands and models all for sale under one roof - and hopefully profitable - Chrysler will look a lot more attractive to potential suitors."

I foresee a bidding war between the Indians and the Chinese. I don't think America's going to be very happy about it either.

Have to assume the tooling wasn't the suppliers, but the purchasers. I don't know if Nardelli has noticed, but plastics prices are much higher today than three years ago.

Something about oil going up...

Be wary of all things Nardelli ... Home Depot is still a mess.