DETROIT -- Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli says he will step down after the company emerges from bankruptcy protection, according to The Associated Press.

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.