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Chrysler Hires Away Toyota's Top North American Executive

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By TOM KRISHER, The Associated Press

Published: September 7, 2007

DETROIT - Chrysler pulled off a major coup Thursday, hiring away the highly-regarded Jim Press, Toyota's top North American executive, to run its sales and marketing operations.

Press, 60, formerly president and chief operating officer for Toyota in North America and the first non-Japanese member of Toyota Motor Corp.'s board of directors, will become Chrysler vice chairman and president.

He joins new chairman and CEO Robert Nardelli and Tom LaSorda on Chrysler LLC's top management team. LaSorda already has and will retain the same titles as Press.

LaSorda will run the company's manufacturing and purchasing operations, while Press will handle sales, marketing and product strategy, company spokesman Mike Aberlich said.

Hiring Press is Chrysler's second major executive announcement since August, when private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP took control of 80.1 percent of the company from DaimlerChrysler AG. Cerberus announced Aug. 6 that Nardelli, a former Home Depot chief executive officer, would become Chrysler's chairman and CEO.

Press' resignation will be effective Sept. 14, Toyota said.

'Tom LaSorda and I are thrilled that one of the most successful executives in the history of the auto industry has joined our leadership team at the new Chrysler,' Nardelli said in a statement.

Toyota said Shigeru Hayakawa, a Japanese veteran at the company and its managing officer, will be the new president of Toyota North America.

'Toyota has been the centerpiece of my life. This was the most difficult decision I have made,' Press said.

Press, an American, has been with Toyota for 37 years. His rise at Toyota was widely seen as furthering the company's effort to bolster its standing as a multinational corporation.

'Jim has played a significant role in strengthening Toyota's presence in the U.S,' Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said. 'I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all he has done for Toyota.'

Press will be asked to help turn things around at Chrysler, which has had problems of late in its sales and marketing operations.

Press goes to Chrysler with a great record of success at Toyota, which has seen continued sales increases in the United States for several years. The hiring comes as Chrysler's sales have been dropping and it is trying to repair relations with its dealers.

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