BREAKING NEWS: Toyota's Press Goes to Chrysler
September 06, 2007

The New Chrysler announced this morning that Toyota’s Jim Press is joining Chrysler as vice chairman and president.

Press, a 37-veteran of Toyota, was the first and only non-Japanese to be elected to Toyota's board of directors in Japan. He also was the first American to be named president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motors in North America, making him Toyota's highest-ranking exec in North America.

At Chrysler, Press will be responsible for North American Sales, International Sales, Global Marketing, Product Strategy, and Service and Parts. Marketing is an area of serious weakness for the Detroit automaker.

The stunning news demonstrates that the traditional automotive playbook is out the window when a private equity firm buys an automaker, as Cerberus Capital Management did with Chrysler, a deal consummated only in early August.

It also demonstrates how fast-moving -- and anxious -- private equity firms are in turning around ailing properties in order to earn a return on their investment. Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli, formerly Home Depot CEO, is leading the charge -- moving quickly and decisively and bringing in fresh blood from outside -- at whatever the cost.

Chrysler Coup: Stealing from Toyota

Rarely does a domestic automaker steal away an executive of an import auto company, and never has it happened that a Detroit maker has lured a top-ranking exec of Press’ caliber from -- of all places -- Toyota.

Chrysler gaining Press is nothing short of a coup.

Press, age 60, spent 37 years at Toyota, during which time the company grew from an upstart to the one of the largest automakers in North America and soon to be the world's largest.

In April, Press was elected the first non-Japanese to the Toyota Motor Corp. board in Tokyo. A year earlier, he had become the first American to head Toyota Motor North America, based in New York.

Press' recent rise to the top ranks came against the backdrop of Toyota being poised -- for the first time in history -- to surpass General Motors as the world's largest global car company. In the U.S., Toyota already has passed Chrysler and is beating Ford in some months.

Press, who started his automotive career at Ford, was most recently responsible at Toyota for sales, engineering as well as 15 manufacturing plants with 41,000 employees in North America.

Press is the second Toyota executive Chrysler has stolen. The ink was barely dry on the Chrysler-Cerberus deal with Chrysler hired away Deborah Wahl Meyer, head of marketing for Lexus. She is now Chrysler's chief marketing officer.

Press' Chrysler Role

At Chrysler, Press joins former Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda as a Vice Chairman and President. Both report to Nardelli.

Press will focus on his strength of marketing and strategy. He undoubtedly will be charged with repairing Chrysler's poor relations with its dealers; he was extremely poular with Toyota and Lexus dealers, partly because the franchises made them among the wealthiest dealers in the country. Press often visited dealers and was famous for his pep talks to dealers at their Las Vegas conventions.

Press is also popular with the press. He oversaw the launch of Toyota's phenomenally successful Prius hybrid, nearly a franchise in and of itself, and Toyota's first real full-size truck, the Tundra.

As a manager, he's known to be a demanding task-master and a competitor, not only in business but in his free time as a Master's swimmer. At the same time, however, Press is skilled a calming turmoil. He calmed the situation after sexual harassment charges were made against a Toyota executive in the New York office, and, on the heels of that event, gave a speech to Detroit's Inforum, previously called the Women's Economic Club, on career opportunities in the auto industry.

Meantime, LaSorda’s responsibilities will continue to include manufacturing, procurement and supply, employee relations and global business development and alliances.

The betting has been -- and the addition of Press to the mix -- suggests LaSorda's tenure may be short -- likely lasting only through the negotiations of a contract with the United Auto Workers union, a contract that expires next Friday.

Press also becomes a member of the Chrysler LLC Board of Directors and the Board of Managers of Cerberus Operations and Advisory Co. LLC.

“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,” said Nardelli in a statement Thursday. “Our top team now consists of a world-class ‘supply’ leader in Tom and an equally world-class ‘demand’ leader in Jim.”

Private Equity: Changing the Hiring Game

Press' hiring is further demonstration of the deep pockets of private equity and the willingness to dig deep into them for talent to get the job done.

Details of Press' compensation will remain private, but it clearly has to be substantial, considering he spent 37 years at Toyota and already was well rewarded financially.

Motivating Factors

What’s not clear and may never be – though there’s plenty of speculation on it – is what’s Press’ real motivation for making the move from Toyota to Chrysler?

Is it just about the compensation package, likely, if it is anything like Nardelli’s, heavily tied to the future performance of Chrysler? Is it the opportunity to write a legacy of helping save an American icon? Was there an issue at Toyota? Perhaps, as some have speculated, the moniker of first non-Japanese elected to Toyota’s board and first American to head Toyota in North America were in name only – merely window dressing. Or perhaps Press missed the operational side of the business.

We’ll eagerly await Press’s response when he officially joins Chrysler on Sept. 17.

Meantime, in a statement issued by Chrysler, Press said he was grateful for the support and opportunities he had at Toyota. “I relish this new opportunity with the Chrysler team to be a part of the resurgence of a true American icon here and around the world. Part of my new responsibilities will be strengthening and energizing the dealer body. This is something I was passionate about at Toyota and will be passionate about at Chrysler.”

Toyota, which views lifetime loyalty as a given, maybe be a tad embarrassed by Press’ desertion. However, publicly, Toyota officials are expressing their sadness at Press’ departure and assure Toyota has a deep bench to fill top managements positions.

Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe, in a statement, said: "Jim has played a significant role in strengthening Toyota's presence in the U.S. I was looking forward to him playing a bigger role as a member of our management team, so I am sorry to see him leave. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for all he has done for Toyota."

Toyota Names Press Replacement

Meantime, Toyota has promoted Shigeru Hayakawa to replace Press. With an MBA from New York University, Hayakwa had been executive vice president of global external affairs at Toyota Motor North America and had done a U.S. tour of duty earlier in his career. He’d held a number of assignments in international public, industry and government affairs.

More About Press

Press was born in Pasadena, California, but his family moved to Prairie Village, Kansas, when he was 7. He graduated from go-karts, the first of which he acquired when he was 8, to a beat-up 1928 Ford Roadster he got in 1959. From that moment, Press, once a mechanic, has said he was in love with cars.

After graduating from Kansas State College (now Pittsburg State University) in Pittsburgh, Kansas, with a degree in business administration, Press joined Ford as management. He then followed his boss to Toyota in 1970. He intended to learn the business and then become a dealer. In 1989, Press did a stint with Jim Moran, a dealer who established Toyota’s Southeast distributorship. Moran, an inductee of the Automotive Hall of Fame, died this week.

Press then held a number of positions at Toyota, including general manager of Lexus. He then was named president and COO of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., where he had overall responsibility for sales, marketing and distribution for Toyota, Scion and Lexus products in the United Sates. Press was the first American president of TMS.

Press also became the first American president of the New York City-based Toyota North America (TMA) last year. TMA is the holding company created in 1996 to be responsible for Toyota's North American sales, engineering and manufacturing operating units.

Press was the first international automotive executive elected to chair the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the industry's top trade group. He has received the "Distinguished Service Citation Award" from the Automotive Hall of Fame and has been named an industry "All-Star" leader by both Automotive News and Automobile magazine. In 2004, Fortune magazine called him Toyota's "secret weapon," saying he "arguably has as much influence over the course of the American auto industry as anyone else alive."

When Press is not on the job, he can be found in the air or in the water.

Press is a certified commercial pilot and was president of Toyota's Aviation Business Development Office in the early 1990s. During that time, he was also responsible for AirFlite –- a fixed-base operation in Long Beach, California. Press told me he isn’t getting as much air time to be as competent as he’d like but he is flying in New York and Thailand, his new wife’s homeland.

But he doesn’t miss his time in the pool, swimming at least once a day. Press is a Masters swimmer and a triathlete. He was awarded the Gold Medallion by the International Swimming Hall of Fame and he belongs to the Los Angeles and Peninsula Masters swim team. He also lived on a powerboat off the California coast for 14 years. Over the years, he’s also been involved in auto racing and riding motorcycles.

Press and his new wife, Suwichada, live in New York City. They also have a home in Thailand, where Press enjoys flying his plane. Together they have six children: Robert, Jason, Christopher and Elizabeth, Guy and Nong. He also has grandchildren

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