(Updates throughout)
DETROIT, May 30 (Reuters) - DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit announced the resignation on Friday of its top marketing and sales executive.
Jim Schroer, 51, who joined Chrysler just two years ago from Ford Motor Co. , is to be replaced by German-born Joe Eberhardt, who currently heads DaimlerChrysler's operations in Britain, the company said in a statement.
It said the change in the high pressure job, amid cutthroat competition in the U.S. auto industry, was to take effect this weekend.
Chrysler, Ford and General Motors Corp. have all struggled to prop up sales by renewing costly incentives in recent months.
Schroer, who was no fan of big cash rebates and interest-free financing deals, referred to them as the "doom loop" in a Reuters interview earlier this year, saying they were destroying the profitability of Detroit's Big Three automakers.
"The current competitive climate in our industry is more intense than it has ever been, and we do not expect it to get any easier," Chrysler President and Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said in the statement.
"With his years of experience and proven track record for success in the auto industry in the United States and abroad, Joe Eberhardt is the right man to take on the challenge to profitably grow our business in this demanding environment."
The statement said Schroer was leaving Chrysler to pursue a new career in marketing outside the company but it did not elaborate.
Before his position in Europe, the 39-year-old Eberhardt had held senior sales positions at the U.S. division of Mercedes-Benz.
Separately, DaimlerChrysler said its Board of Management member, Thomas Sidlik, was assuming responsibility for the company's global procurement and supply division. He takes over from Gary Valade, who will retire at the end of this year.