Chrysler appoints new chairman

Robert Kidder, a private-equity investor and former consultant for Ford Motor Company will become the chairman of Chrysler Group once the automaker emerges from bankruptcy and completes a merger with Italy's Fiat, the company said Wednesday.┬á Kidder, was also the chief executive of battery maker Duracell, and also serves as the lead director of Morgan Stanley and a board member at Schering Plough Corp.┬á He will succeed Chrysler's Bob Nardelli, who is stepping down as the bankrupt automaker's chairman and chief executive.┬á Sergio Marchionne, FiatÔÇÖs chief executive, is expected to take management control of Chrysler when certain assets from its operations are sold out of bankruptcy protection to a new operating company in the coming weeks under a deal financed and brokered by the Obama administration.┬á Kidder's appointment was the first of the nine-member board that will oversee the new company. The US Treasury will assign four of those directors while Fiat will appoint three board members.┬á "I am confident that Chrysler will emerge from Chapter 11 a lean and powerful competitor, combining its own rich history of innovation with Fiat's technology and expertise to invigorate the American car market and to challenge other car companies around the globe," Kidder said in a statement. ┬á ┬á