DaimlerChrysler's CEO Juergen Schrempp will leave the company at the end of 2005.

The Supervisory Board of DaimlerChrysler agreed to name Dieter Zetsche, now head of the US-based Chrysler Group, to replace Schrempp as chairman of the Board of Management of DaimlerChrysler from Jan. 1, 2006, the Stuttgart-based carmaker said.

"The Supervisory Board and Schrempp are in full agreement that the end of the year 2005 is the optimal time for a change in the leadership of the company," said Hilmar Kopper, chairman of the Supervisory Board of DaimlerChrysler.

"The decisions of the Supervisory Board have been made unanimously after a thorough process," Kopper said.

Schrempp has been criticized by shareholders for the falling profits in their Germany-based Mercedes Car Group and the bad performance of the Smart compact car.

At the company's annual meeting in April, Schrempp admitted major problems at its Mercedes division.

Mercedes-Benz's earnings slumped by 97 percent to 20 million euros (about US$24 million) in the fourth quarter of 2004.

DaimlerChrysler shares have lost about a third of their value over the past five years.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2005)