Ford of Europe will cease to exist as a separate division within the brand after 55 years. Ford announced this in a call with analysts. With the reorganization of the car manufacturer, the new divisions, Ford Blue and Model e, take the lead. This means that the European headquarters of Ford in Cologne will be assigned a different role.
The reorganization of Ford, which bears the name ‘Ford+’, should contribute, among other things, to a further acceleration of the development of electric cars. In total, Ford will consist of five divisions: Model e, Ford Blue, Ford Pro, Ford Drive and Ford Credit. These five divisions will become leading in the corporate structure, with Ford thus dropping the regional division. “Geography is still important to us, but from 2023 we will focus more on the departments,” said CFO John Lawler in a call with analysts. He added that the regional divisions are no longer “the way we run the company”.
This gives the current Ford of Europe a new role within the car manufacturer. It is not yet entirely clear what the consequences will be. According to Automotive News Europe Ford of Europe in Cologne will soon come mainly under the new Model e division, with which Ford of Europe as an organizational unit within Ford would cease to exist. The departure of Stuart Rowley, former director of Ford of Europe, also points to this. Rowley has now been appointed chief transformation and quality officer for the world. Ford’s current commercial vehicle development center in Dunton, England, will then come under the Ford Pro commercial vehicle division.
Current developments
However, Ford Netherlands cannot yet confirm to AutoWeek that the current Ford of Europe will be divided. The importer does say that Model e will indeed play a leading role in our region. Not surprising given the focus on electric driving in Europe, because Ford will become a fully electric brand here in 2030. It is developing a whole range of models in addition to the Mustang Mach-e, where the manufacturer will also use Volkswagen’s MEB platform. Next year, Ford will unveil the first fruits of that partnership.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl