Chrysler Snatches Top Toyota Exec.

Chrysler LLC lured Toyota North America's President and COO Jim Press to hop on board as its newest vice chairman and president. Press, who was also a director at Toyota and spent 37 years with the Japanese automaker, will head up Chrysler's North American and international sales teams, while also working on global marketing, product strategy, and service & parts. Chrysler was recently taken private by Cerberus Capital Management; the new ownership has been aggressive in its search for new talent, recently bringing former Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli on board as CEO as it tries to make the U.S. automaker profitable once again. Terms of the hiring were not immediately available. Toyota described Press's departure as "a shock"; he will be replaced by Shigeru Hayakawa, formerly Executive VP of Toyota North America.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters
Commentary: Toyota U.S. Sales Drop an Unexpected 2.8% • Merrill Likes Toyota Even With Strong Yen
Stocks/ETFs to watch: TM, DAI. Competitors: F, GM
Earnings call transcript: Toyota Motor F1Q08

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