Marketer Docherty to Retire from GM Europe

Susan Docherty, former U.S. sales and marketing chief for General Motors Co., will retire as president of Chevrolet and Cadillac European operations on Sept. 1.

The company says a successor will be named later. In GM's latest marketing reorganization, CEO Dan Akerson has given new executives global responsibility for Cadillac and Chevy.

Docherty, 50, says in a statement that she has decided to "take a break, invest time in my family and chart a new course for my career."

Docherty took her current job in January 2012 when Europe was entering its fifth straight year of declining car sales. Chevy deliveries across Europe slid 3% 172,100 vehicles last year compared with an 8% year-on-year drop in the overall market, according to the region's carmaker group ACEA.

But the brand's European volume plunged 31% to 59,400 vehicles in the January-May period of this year. Chevy market share has slipped 0.2 points to 1.1% during Docherty's tenure.

Her 27-year GM career included stints in senior jobs in Europe and Canada and as general manager for the Buick, GMC and Pontiac brands. Docherty headed the company's U.S. sales operations from October 2009 until March 2010, when she was reassigned to oversee sales and marketing in Asia, Australia and the Middle East.