(Recasts to add background, company spokesman, analyst's comments)
By Tom Brown
DETROIT, May 30 (Reuters) - DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit said on Friday its top marketing and sales head was stepping down and would be replaced by a longtime Daimler executive, reinforcing German control over the U.S. side of the company.
Jim Schroer, 51, who joined Chrysler after defecting from rival Ford Motor Co. in February 2001, will be replaced by Joe Eberhardt, a German who heads DaimlerChrysler's operations in Britain, the company said.
Chrysler said the change in the high pressure job, amid fierce competition in the U.S. auto industry, would take effect this weekend. The company said in a statement that Schroer was leaving to pursue marketing opportunities elsewhere.
The departure of Schroer, an American, increases German influence over Chrysler since its merger with Daimler-Benz in 1998. The company's top three management positions, all held by Americans when the merger took place, will now be held by German nationals.
"It's been clear to me from day one that it was a German takeover of Chrysler and not a 'merger of equals' the way it was presented at the time," said industry analyst David Healy of Burnham Securities Inc. "If there was any doubt in anybody's mind lingering, now that should end it."
Chrysler spokesman Ken Levy said the citizenship of senior executives was not an issue at the company's headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
"Nationality really doesn't matter for us anymore," Levy said. "It's experience and performance." He would not expand on the reasons for Schroer's departure except to say he wanted to move on.
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 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 Friday 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," he said.
Before his position in Europe, the 39-year-old Eberhardt held senior sales positions at the U.S. division of Chrysler unit 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.