Just three years ago, auto executives didn't want to touch struggling Detroit automaker Chrysler "with a 10-foot pole," current Chrysler and Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne told "60 Minutes" reporter Steve Kroft for a segment airing Sunday.Marchionne will explain how he managed to turn the once bankrupt auto company around. He also shares how he used a $6 billion federal bailout to resurrect Chrysler when many of its employees feared for their jobs.
"I remember, when I came here, in 2009, there's not a thing worse for a leader than to see fear in people's faces," he told Kroft. "All these things are long shots. … If it was that easy, then everybody would do it."
So far, Marchionne has upgraded 16 Chrysler models and added the Dodge Dart, which gets 40 miles per gallon and starts at less than $16,000. The company has also repaid its loans to the U.S. Treasury.
Sunday's "60 Minutes," which airs at 7 p.m. on CBS, also features a visit to an assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill., where Chrysler produces the Dodge Dart and Marchionne recently announced a plan to hire about 1,800 workers.
"I think the world of American workers," Marchionne told Kroft. "What happened here at Chrysler would have been impossible without the commitment that they've shown, absolutely impossible."
BY JOSH KATZENSTEIN jkatzenstein@detnews.com
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