Tesla Motors hires former Chrysler executive

DETROIT, July 8 (Reuters) - Tesla Motors on Tuesday said it had hired a former senior Chrysler engineer to head its engineering and manufacturing as it develops a battery-powered sedan in addition to its $109,000 electric roadster.

Privately held Tesla said it had hired Mike Donoughe, a former senior Chrysler engineer, to head its effort to build an electric sedan known as its "Model S".

Donoughe was one of several high-profile departures from Chrysler after the automaker was taken private by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management last year.

Donoughe, 49, had been a vice president at Chrysler who headed up a project to redesign the No. 3 U.S. automaker's passenger car line-up.

In addition to his work on Chrysler passenger cars, Donoughe also worked on design programs for Chrysler's top-selling minivans and its Jeep Wrangler SUV and Dodge Ram pickup truck.

Tesla, owned by PayPal creator Elon Musk, has built an electric sports car that can travel more than 200 miles on a charge and reach 60 miles per hour in under four seconds.

The sold-out Tesla Roadster went into production in March. Tesla has said it plans to build and deliver about 600 of the sports cars this year.

San Carlos, California-based Tesla is one of several companies targeting what is expected to be a fast-growth market in vehicles powered by the lithium-ion batteries now widely used in consumer electronics.

Industry leaders General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) are also developing rechargeable hybrid vehicles using lithium-ion batteries.