Big Win For Chrsyler
Date 2007/9/7 9:18:29 | Topic: Sales
| In a move that really turned some heads in the automotive industry, Chrysler LLC announced that they lured Toyota's North American President Jim Press to become co-president and co-chairman of Chrysler.
The plan is that current president and chairman Tom LaSorda (no, not Tommy Lasorda) will run the manufacturing while Mr. Press will be in charge of selling the vehicles.
From The New York Times:Mr. Press is the second high-ranking Toyota executive that Chrysler has brought in since its purchase by Cerberus, a private equity firm. Deborah Wahl Meyer, who had been a vice president in Toyota’s Lexus division, was named Chrysler’s chief marketing officer last month.
The move, which has been in the works for the last several weeks, came as a shock in Detroit, where Mr. Press has rivaled the leaders of G.M., Ford and Chrysler in his influence on the American car market.
Freep.com also has an excellent article about the new hire.
I'm not sure how this will effect the Jeep brand just yet, but anything that is cheered by employees (as this was, as indicated by Jason Vines, Chrysler VP of Communications), is good for morale and good for the company.
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