- ford announced this morning that jim farley, currently head of the new businesses, technology & strategy team, will become chief operating officer, reporting directly to ceo jim hackett.
- the move, in which automotive president joe hinrichs retires, is part of the automaker's declared aim of "moving with urgency . . . to accelerate its transformation into a higher-growth, higher-margin business."
- earlier this week, ford reported a major loss in fourth-quarter operating income for 2019 and predicted lower-than-expected profits for 2020.
jim farley, who started at ford in marketing and sales 13 years ago and has risen through the company to become its lead strategist, has been named the company's new chief operating officer. ford announced the move on friday morning.
in addition to the expectation he will strengthen the company's automotive business, ford says farley (pictured above) will be expected to deliver a better profit margin for the company. it also appears to be a move to double down on autonomous and electric vehicles and new technology: with his new duties, farley retains his position as head of ford smart mobility, the autonomous-driving entity, and will continue to lead ford in its partnership with argo ai.
the hackett announcement also included the news that chief product development officer hau thai-tang will add responsibility for connectivity and connected services, reporting directly to farley.
joe hinrichs, whose title was president, automotive, is retiring.
earlier this week, ford announced it had failed to reach its earnings targets for the fourth quarter of 2019 and expressed guarded predictions about the outlook for 2020, the wall street journal reported this week. in the wake of that information, ford's stock dropped by 9 percent on wednesday, february 5.
farley was profiled by the detroit free press in june 2019, when he took on the job as president of new businesses, technology & strategy, as "the guy who prefers to be dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, spending time in a garage wrenching on classic mustangs and vintage motorcycles." he was previously a product planner for toyota who was involved in launching toyota's scion subbrand and the tundra pickup, rising to group vice president and general manager of lexus.
in a c/d interview titled "what i'd do differently" for the october 2014 issue, farley said his personal garage held "a 1966 cobra 427, 1932 ford highboy, 1978 lola t298, 2005 ford gt, meyers manx . . . 1976 honda cb400 super sport, and some other stuff."