DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc. president Steven Landry was promoted to the U.S. head office yesterday after less than eight months on the job, leaving a vacancy at the top of the company that he has guided to second place in the sales rankings.
Mr. Landry was named vice-president of sales and field operations for the Chrysler division of DaimlerChrysler AG, but he will retain his title as chairman of DaimlerChrysler Canada.
Chrysler Canada now ranks second behind General Motors of Canada Ltd. in the sales race and ahead of long-time No. 2, Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. Mr. Landry, riding a wave of new vehicles such as the Dodge Charger, Dodge Caliber, Jeep Commander and others, boosted Chrysler's market share in Canada to 14.7 per cent as of the end of May, compared with 13.8 per cent on Nov. 1, 2005, when he took over from Mark Norman.
"The good news is he's going to remain chairman of Canada," said one Chrysler dealer, who lauded Mr. Landry as the first company president in years who understood the Canadian market and how it differs from the United States.
"In eight months, he did more than [Ed] Brust and [Mark] Norman did in five years," said the dealer, who insisted on anonymity.
"He understood that some regions of the country need more trucks and that areas like Quebec need more Calibers," said the dealer, referring to the new small Chrysler car that replaced the aged Neon in what is arguably the most important market segment in Canada.
Mr. Landry, 47, is a native of Halifax and a 24-year veteran of Chrysler who was vice-president of global marketing for Dodge before he took on the Canadian assignment.
The man dealers described as the leading choice to replace Mr. Landry, Bernie Clement, resigned effective June 1 after buying Pembina Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Winnipeg. Mr. Clement had been vice-president of sales for DaimlerChrysler Canada.
David Buckingham, senior manager of eastern business centre operations for DaimlerChrysler Canada, was named yesterday to replace Mr. Clement. A replacement for Mr. Landry will be named later.
The U.S. position for Mr. Landry opened up because of the retirements of two senior officials at the company's headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. Gary Dilts, 56, senior vice-president of U.S. sales and Raymond Fisher, 53, vice-president of sales, service and parts operations, both retired.
Those moves came amid worries that Chrysler, which has recently been the strongest of the traditional Detroit-based manufacturers, is beginning to face some of the same woes as Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.
Among the concerns are declining sales of sport utility vehicles and trucks as Americans react to gas prices that are approaching $3 (U.S.) a gallon.
Chrysler's sales of light trucks has slumped 14 per cent in the U.S. market to 139,293 last month from 161,973 in May, 2005, offsetting an increase in passenger car sales and helping pull overall sales down 14 per cent. Truck sales fell 8 per cent in the first five months of the year.