Thursday, September 8, 2005

Ford to make major management moves

By Detroit News staff

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Ford Motor Co. plans to announce a major management shuffle later today as the automaker struggles to stanch losses in North America, The Detroit News has learned.

Mark Fields, executive vice president, Ford of Europe and Premier Automotive Group, will replace Greg Smith, 54, as executive vice president in charge of North America. Fields, 44, will face the task of repairing Ford's U.S. automotive operations, which have been losing money. Ford is planning to announce a major restructuring later this year.

Ford spokesman Ray Day declined comment.

The moves, approved Wednesday night by Ford's board of directors, signals Chairman and CEO Bill Ford Jr.'s growing impatience with losses in North America. North American operations had a pretax loss of $907 million in the second quarter.

Smith will move to a new role overseeing several staff functions including human resources, information technology, labor relations and corporate strategy.

Mark Schulz, executive vice president over Asia Pacific and Africa, will now head all of Ford's international operations. Schulz and Fields will be the two key operational executives under Bill Ford and Chief Operating Officer Jim Padilla.

Other executive changes:

Louis Booth, chairman and CEO of Ford Europe, will replace Fields as head of the Premier Automotive Group, which includes Volvo, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Jaguar.

John Fleming, president of Ford of Europe, will become CEO of Ford of Europe.

Hans-Olov Olsson, president of Volvo, becomes Ford's new chief marketing officer, a new position.