Bill Ford has gone from the head of his family firm. Henry’s great-grandson stepped down yesterday in favour of Alan Mulally, head of Boeing’s commercial aircraft division.
Ford will remain as executive chairman; Mulally takes over as president and CEO.
The 61-year old joins the world’s third biggest carmaker at a very troubled time in its history, with the proposed sale of Aston Martin announced last week and Ford’s North American market share having fallen from 25 per cent in 1995 to 16 per cent this year.
Mulally, 61, who had been at Boeing for 37 years, said that he was determined to make Ford “the finest automobile company in the world”, adding that the fundamentals between the aircraft and car industries “are exactly the same”. He is the first outsider to head the company in its 103-year history.
Ford remains in charge of the company’s Way Forward plan, which is due to be unveiled in two weeks’ time.
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