DETROIT (AP) -- Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli says he will step down after the company emerges from bankruptcy protection.
President Barack Obama announced Thursday that the automaker would file for Chapter 11 after the government could not reach a debt-reduction agreement with creditors.
Nardelli says on the CNBC cable network that the Treasury Department did not ask him to resign. But he felt it would be an appropriate time to leave after bankruptcy.
Chrysler has signed a partnership deal with Fiat. Nardelli says the new company will be run by a nine-person board, with six picked by the government and three by Fiat. The board will pick a new CEO.
Nardelli became Chrysler's CEO when Cerberus Capital Management bought the majority of the automaker in 2007.