GM taps Volkswagen exec to market Chevrolet

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors has hired a new Chevrolet marketing chief from German rival Volkswagen.

Tim Mahoney starts work at GM on April 1. He had been VW's chief product and marketing officer since 2011.

GM says in a statement that he'll be responsible for overall coordination of GM's global marketing as well as the Chevy brand.

He'll report to U.S. Vice President of Sales and interim marketing chief Alan Batey.

Volkswagen Group has had great success growing sales in the past few years. In the U.S. alone, sales were up almost 31 percent last year.

GM's U.S. sales have lagged the growth in the overall market. The Detroit automaker reported a 4 percent U.S. sales increase last year while overall U.S. auto sales rose 13 percent.