MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- Chrysler hopes to lift its profile in Japan by rolling out many new models in the near future, a top marketing official of the North American unit of DaimlerChrysler Corp. said.

"We will sell 6,000 Chrysler-brand cars in Japan this year, and we would like to sell at least 10,000 (annually) in the next four to five years," Joachim Eberhardt, executive vice president of global sales, marketing and service, said during an interview on the sidelines of the Tokyo Motor Show.

The automaker sold 5,727 cars in Japan in 2002; his projection for this year would mean a 4.8 percent growth rate.