WASHINGTON  – President Barack Obama says he supports Chrysler’s decision to seek bankruptcy protection and that its looming partnership with Fiat will save one of America’s “most storied automakers.”

Obama said he believes the bankruptcy filing will put the struggling company back on its feet and that the process for recovery will be relatively fast.

During an appearance at the White House, Obama said that “the necessary steps have been taken” to give the company “a new lease on life.”

Obama predicted that General Motors, as well as Chrysler, will “come back” and said he wants to see Chrysler recapture the place it had in society at a time when it was “a pillar of our industrial economy.”