DETROIT — When auto executive Jim Press looks back on his 37 years at Toyota, they'll seem positively tranquil compared to what he'll face as the new vice chairman and president at Chrysler.

Chrysler announced yesterday that Press will take over its sales and marketing operations on Sept. 17.

He'll inherit stagnant sales, disgruntled dealers and a marketing plan that's in disarray after poor sales of some new products.

He'll be working for a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management LLC, which took over Chrysler last month.

And for the first time, he'll come face to face with the United Auto Workers union, which represents 46,276 hourly workers at Chrysler but has been unable to unionize Toyota's U.S. workforce. U.S. automakers are currently negotiating new contracts with the UAW.

Many analysts say that's just the kind of challenge that appealed to Press, a consummate salesman and one of the industry's most highly regarded executives.

"There's an allure to coming in and saying, 'Hey, look, you're the guy and this is in your hands.' If you're successful, you're pretty much immortalized in the industry," said Kevin Tynan, senior automotive analyst for Argus Research Corp. "You can make a difference for an American icon."

Press will resign Sept. 14 from Toyota Motor Corp., where he has served as the first non-Japanese president and chief operating officer for Toyota in North America since 2006. Before that, he was head of Toyota's North American sales during the company's rapid expansion. Toyota doubled its share of the U.S. market between 1990 and 2006, from 7.5 percent to 15 percent, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank.

By comparison, Chrysler's market share has remained relatively flat in that period, at around 12 percent. The company swung into the black in 2005 after a painful restructuring but was back in the red in 2006 with a loss of $618 million. It's now undergoing another restructuring and intends to shed 13,000 hourly and salaried workers in the United States and Canada by 2009.

Tynan said Press' hiring shows Cerberus plans a serious restructuring.

"It's the kind of management team that will get things done," Tynan said. "If you were looking to acquire the company and polish it up to sell it, you wouldn't go to this extent to hire talent."

United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger agreed that the hiring indicates Cerberus is committed to fixing Chrysler. He called Press' hiring "a major coup."

"I'm satisfied that they're not strip and flip," Gettelfinger said.

Press joins Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Nardelli and Tom LaSorda on Chrysler LLC's top management team. LaSorda, who will share the titles of vice chairman and president with Press, will run the company's manufacturing and purchasing operations, while Press will handle sales, marketing and product strategy, said company spokesman Mike Aberlich.

"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," Nardelli said in a statement.

Mark McCready, vice president of market planning and pricing for the Carsdirect.com automotive Web site, said Chrysler has been frustrated by the tepid response to some of its recent launches, including the new Chrysler Sebring sedan and Dodge Nitro sport utility vehicle. A redesigned Jeep Wrangler was selling well, but production problems prevented the company from filling dealers' orders, he said.

Dealers already were angry about a debacle last year when Chrysler produced too many vehicles and tried to push them into showrooms. Chrysler's top sales executive, Joe Eberhardt, was forced to resign.

Press also inherits Chrysler's mismatched product mix, which is light on cars and heavy on trucks and SUVs. Larger vehicles have fared poorly as high gas prices and falling home construction have hit the U.S. market.

McCready said Press will bring customer-driven decisions to Chrysler as well as better systems for managing production and inventory.

"Toyota's product planning is excellent. They rarely have something that isn't right on for the marketplace," McCready said.

John McEleney, who owns both a Chrysler and a Toyota dealership in Clinton, Iowa, said Press' relationships with dealers are legendary.

"He attributed a lot of Toyota's success to their dealers, and it means a lot to us," Mc-Eleney said. "Toyota is just the gold standard. I have nothing negative to say about Chrysler, but (Press) stood out in the industry."

McEleney added that Chrysler has already repaired a lot of the damage from the overproduction issues in 2006, but Press' hiring "will take it to another level."

Press joined Toyota in 1970 after a brief stint at Ford Motor Co. He has held dozens of jobs at Toyota in advertising, marketing, service and product planning. In June, he became the first non-Japanese member of Toyota's board of directors.