Chrysler Abruptly Loses Head of UK Operation

1 Comment 30 October 2007

By Brendan Moore

10.31.2007

Just days before the November 1 legal separation of Chrysler from Daimler in the UK, the head of Chrysler UK, Peter Lambert, has suddenly left the company.

Chrysler UK Ltd., the new legal entity in the UK, is silent on the reasons for Lambert’s departure a few days ago, as well as whether he went to a competitor, saying only that “Peter Lambert will not be part of the company going forward.”

Lambert had previous stints at Ford and Toyota before being named head of Mercedes-Benz light commercial sales immediately before becoming managing director of Chrysler UK only 18 months ago.

Former managing director Simon Elliot, who was shipped off to China in February 2006, has been tapped to lead Chrysler UK on an interim basis until a replacement can be hired. Elliot was in charge of sales, marketing and network development in China, but that scope of responsibility was changed considerably by the hiring of Phil Murtaugh by Chrysler early last month. Chrysler would not say how long the interim period might last, or whether Elliot would return fulltime to his duties in China shortly.

Elliot is widely credited with Chrysler’s growth in the UK since 1999, and is well-regarded within the organization.

It is not known whether Elliot intends to manage the UK operations from his current China location, from a UK office, or some combination of both.

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Your Comments

1 comment

Anonymous says:

October 31, 2007 at 13:29

And he cannot be found for comment, either. Very mysterious, eh?

People here in Britain are wondering if he did something wrong and Chrysler sacked him, or if he just told Chrysler to piss off.

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