Murtaugh's quitting shows Chrysler's woes in China

Shanghai, December 22 (Gasgoo.com) Troubled by the financial crisis, U.S. auto giant Chrysler LLC announced on Friday that Philip F. Murtaugh, the chief executive of its Asia operations, will leave the company soon, according to a local media report.

Mr. Murtaugh is well known in China’s auto industry for his knowledge of the local market. He spent ten years in directing General Motors' expansion in China, and then joined Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) in June 2006. In September 2007 he was brought in to help Chrysler expand its China operations.

His departure indeed highlights Chrysler's very difficult situations in Chinese market, a China Business News report said.

In the first eleven months this year, Chrysler only sold 3,485 300C sedans in total, a slump of 54 percent from last year's level. Sales of Sebring were 5,590 units in the first half of this year, one tenth of Camry's figure. Also only hundreds units of Grand Voyager were sold in the first half.

The report cited insiders as saying that Chrysler’s troubles were brought by complicated partnership relations in China. Chrysler has just dropped cooperation talks with Chery Automobile to sell small cars in the United States and no progress has been made with Great Wall Motor since the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in July.

Earlier talks with SAIC and Guangzhou Automotive Group Co (GAC) all went aground.