Cerberus' Snow Hints at More Big Hires
November 09, 2007

John Snow, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary who now heads Cerberus Capital Management, hinted in an interview that more big hires will be made by Chrysler, and he praised Robert Nardelli, the former Home Depot exec that Cerberus installed to head Chrysler.

Snow, caught by the Financial Times for a quick interview after he delivered a speech in Chicago, said Nardelli has proven himself.

“He's a terrific world-class executive, and now joining him is Jim Press, who is really one of the strongest people in the whole automotive industry on a global basis,” Snow told FT.

“And others that are coming in," added Snow. "They are reaching out to the dealers and recognizing the  problems of need to repair dealer relationships. They are working on the product design, freshening up the product design, streamlining the product offering. We're going to produce cars that people want at prices that they can afford.”

Asked about the state of Chrysler, which recently announced an additional 10,000 job cuts, Snow said, indeed, the market has shifted since Cerberus invested in its nearly 80 percent stake in the automaker. “It's now pretty clear that we're going into a much softer economy for a while. Good business people take into account the circumstances they find themselves in and adjust,” he said.

Despite the economic headwinds, Snow said people will still buy Chryslers. “People will buy good cars, well designed and competitively priced cars, and we are going to produce those kinds of cars. But of course when growth slows from 2½ percent or 3 percent to 1 percent to 1½ percent, which is sort of what we are talking about here, there is less disposable income. And less disposable income means people buy less of lots of things. So I'd expect the car market to soften some. We've had a number of straight years here of very, very strong car sales. It's natural to expect that to soften some, but it will come back.”

Snow said he expects the American economy to bounce back within a year. “Never bet against the American economy,” he said. “It's the most resilient in the world and will slow for a period, but the middle of '08, latter part of '08 we'll resume trend type growth.”

Photos:

1 - New Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli wins praise from his boss, John Snow.

2 - Cerberus chief John Snow is flanked by Chrysler Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda (left) and Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 9:51 AM under Chrysler , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine