DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc. president Ed Brust will retire at the end of the year after nearly five years and will be replaced by 36-year-old Chicago native Mark Norman, currently vice-president of sales and marketing operations for the Chrysler group in the United States.

Mr. Brust's tenure as president, which began in February, 1999, has been marked by a major downsizing of the company's Canadian operations and a steady loss of market share to Asia and Europe-based manufacturers.

Mr. Brust, 59, spent 36 years in the auto industry and 20 of them at Chrysler and DaimlerChrysler. He was appointed head of the Canadian operations after the deaths of Quebec-born Yves Landry in March, 1998, and Mr. Landry's successor, William Glaub, in November of that year.

Dealers expressed happiness yesterday about the change in command, saying Mr. Brust did not learn enough about the Canadian market and did not appear to fight for them at DaimlerChrysler's head office in Auburn Hills, Mich.

"He was an American who viewed Canada as a region," said one dealer, who faulted Mr. Brust for Chrysler's failure to maintain its market share and sales in Canada during his years as president.

"We're hoping for somebody with high energy and a long-term interest in the Canadian market," another dealer said yesterday. "Some new blood or maybe a little pro-active direction. We need an understanding of the Canadian marketplace."

Mr. Brust was not available yesterday to respond to the comments from the dealers, who insisted on anonymity.

Sales figures show that the year before he arrived as president, Canadians purchased 269,196 Chrysler cars, trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles.

During Mr. Brust's years, the auto maker never again reached that level, falling to a low of 245,552 in 2001, with a slight rise last year to 246,777.

As of the end of October, sales fell 11 per cent to 182,943 from 206,571 in the same period last year.

The Chrysler group held 20 per cent of the Canadian market in 1998. So far this year, it has slid to 13.3 per cent.

In another sign of the company's weakness in Canada, it was surpassed in sales by Toyota Canada Inc. in August, the first time one of the old Detroit-based Big Three had been knocked out of that position. Chrysler jumped back ahead of Toyota in September and October.

The number of DaimlerChrysler employees in Canada fell to 12,000 from 16,000 during Mr. Brust's tenure, mainly as a result of a restructuring at its parent company that had a dramatic impact on the company's Canadian operations.

The auto maker closed an assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., eliminated a shift of workers at another plant in Brampton, Ont., and scaled back production at its flagship minivan assembly plant, also in Windsor.

Mr. Norman arrives as the auto maker's parent DaimlerChrysler Corp. prepares a major new product offensive that it hopes will restore some lost market share as well as profitability.

But even with new vehicles, including a redesigned minivan, a Grand Cherokee premium sport utility vehicle and rear-wheel-drive mid-sized cars, coming out of the Brampton plant early next year, Mr. Norman's task will be difficult, industry observers said yesterday.

"I think there's no doubt any president of a domestic manufacturer in Canada is going to face significant challenges over the next decade," said one industry analyst. "The competitive landscape will continue to be fierce."

A plan to move the Chrysler brand upscale and eventually charge premium prices for its vehicles presents particular difficulties in Canada, said another analyst.

"How do you make that strategy work in Canada? Our market is more cost-conscious, so that's going to be a challenge."

Any comeback will have to include the redesigned minivans, the analyst said.

Loyalty in the minivan segment has fallen more than 15 per cent since 2000, with most of those consumers switching to mid-sized and compact SUVs.

Chrysler needs a non-Jeep mid-sized SUV that's also closer in price to the $24,000 sticker price of a minivan than the $39,900 starting price of the Pacifica crossover utility vehicle, the analyst said.