Founder, Chairman and CEO of XLR-8 and Former Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli spoke with FOX Business Network’s (FBN) Maria Bartiromo during Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo about the General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) recall crisis. When discussing General Motors CEO Mary Barra’s congressional hearings Nardelli said, “I think she did a very good job. I’m cheering for her, I’m cheering for General Motors.” Nardelli went on to say, “I think she was forthcoming and I think she was as sincere as any CEO that’s testified up there.” Nardelli said, I think this “couldn’t come at a worse time” for Mary and that “she’s trying to get her arms around a mammoth company and trying to provide her own signature on it and now to be facing this issue is a real challenge for her.” Nardelli also comments on his current company XLR-8 saying, he will “probably not” take the company public.
On his take on the General Motors crisis:
“I think Mary did a great job. Two days in congressional hearings. I’m a veteran of that and have grown a lot of scar tissue from four congressional hearings and going through that process. I think she was forthcoming and I think she was as sincere as any CEO that’s testified up there. I think what you’ve got now, is a little bit of a feeding frenzy, right, you saw the Toyota thing today. I think all of the auto companies are going back and reflecting on where they are, what are some of the potential issues. When you launch a new platform, think about the number of parts and pieces that go into that first time and you try, you know, Toyota Motor Corp (ADR) (NYSE:TM) (TYO:7203) does probably one of the best and that they never try to totally change the supplier or the component. They continually make measured improvements, but if you’re bringing new components together there’s always a high risk when you think about thousands of pieces coming together and you have a tier one, tier two and tier three supplier. So I think that Mary is going through some of that and for her personally it couldn’t come at a worse time. She’s trying to get her arms around a mammoth company and trying to provide her own signature on it and now to be facing this issue is a real challenge for her.”
On General Motors CEO Mary Barra’s congressional hearing:
“I think she did a very good job. I’m cheering for her, I’m cheering for General Motors Company (NYSE:GM). I think the auto industry is one of the hot spots. If you look at the seasonally adjusted rate, the SAR, when I went there it was like 17 million, it fell to 9 million on an annual basis, it’s crawled back up, but it has created jobs and it created a good support for economic recovery during this period. So I’m cheering for the auto industry.”
On former GMAC CEO Michael Carpenter:
“I know [Michael] Carpenter very well, all the way back through our GE days and he was, he was inspirational there and working with our marketing and our M&A team. He then went to Citi, ran Traveler. I thought he – I think he’s done a remarkable job [at Ally]. He’s faced a ton of adversity, again, a CEO that inherited a lot of this that came from GMAC. He was facing a lot of the mortgage issues that were a part of that company. I think he and the board has done a marvelous job in navigating this in spite of some of the regulations relative to compensation and some of the oversight. So, I hope this goes marvelously well for him. He’s a great guy.”
On whether he is looking to take his current company XLR-8 public:
“Probably not. I think where it would better fit is with a strategic right now and, it is a small piece of a big investment. You saw the article the other day about these floating barges that they’re using for natural gas, that they’re going to now drill offshore and convert so it plays right into the middle of that technology. And so I think it would be best with a strategic.”
On whether he was approached by activists when running Chrysler about how to spend money:
“Yes, I’ve had the pleasure, I guess, of talking to various activists and in some cases they made solid points and others, it was just rhetoric, it was the standard you’re not doing this, this, this and this. And taken out of context relative to what we were trying to do strategically with the board. So I think the last thing you want to do is give them the Heisman and say stay out, because then it appears that – they get mad, it looks like you’re defensive, like maybe you’re hiding something. So I would encourage kind of an open conversation, try not to create the hostility that sometimes exists. You don’t want to get into a proxy fight; it’s very costly, it’s distractive.”
