Toyota Motor North America on Thursday named Shigeru Hayakawa as president, to replace Jim Press, who is leaving to head Chrysler LLC's sales and marketing teams.

Hayakawa is an executive vice president of the division, and also will continue to serve as a managing officer of the Japanese automaker.

Hayakawa joined Toyota in 1977 in the overseas department of the company's public affairs division. This year, he was named managing officer of Toyota Motor and executive vice president of Toyota Motor North America.

Source: [url=http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8RG07MO0.htm]BusinessWeek[/url]