Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne Has Five Year Plan

FRANKFURT -- Chrysler Group LLC Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said Wednesday he has designed a five-year plan for the auto maker and plans to share some of the details in November.

Mr. Marchionne, who is also CEO of Fiat SpA, said Fiat expects Chrysler's restructuring to initially progress slowly but significantly improve next year. He said Fiat is scheduled to present the plan for Chrysler by the end of November and that Chrysler will start reporting quarterly results by the end of the year.

"We are going to become a normal reporter in the U.S. hopefully by the end of 2009," Mr. Marchionne said at the Frankfurt auto show. "You will see numbers like you see for everyone else. I think we need to lift the shroud of secrecy from around the house. We have nothing to hide."

Mr. Marchionne said he had a "whole pile of surprises" when Fiat took control of the bankrupt Chrysler in June.......More

Marchionne makes himself at home with new condo

Sergio Marchionne is a man with two jobs and now two homes on two continents.

The chief executive officer of Chrysler Group LLC in Auburn Hills and Fiat SpA in Turin, Italy, has purchased a condo in Metro Detroit, where he is spending a lot of time restructuring the ailing U.S. automaker.

Purchasing a place to call home in Birmingham can be seen as a commitment to the area as well as to the automaker, which was not the case with the last man whose job it was to turn Chrysler around.

Marchionne "needs to be visible," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. "If he's going to be CEO, he needs to be here."
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Obama auto task force to come to Detroit next week

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of President Barack Obama’s auto task force will travel to Detroit next week to meet with industry and labor officials worried about an imminent collapse of several companies absent federal aid.

An administration official said final details of the trip were still being worked out, but the task force visitors will include advisers Steven Rattner and Ron Bloom.


The task force has been conducting a string of meetings over the past two weeks to gather information and assess the depth of the problems facing the industry. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have said they need a total of $7 billion before the end of the month to avoid bankruptcy, and several suppliers are also on the brink.


Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne met with Rattner, Bloom and other members of the task force for two and a half hours today to discuss Fiat’s proposed alliance with Chrysler. Fiat has said it would take a 35% stake in Chrysler in return for sharing vehicle designs that could be used for several new Chrysler models.