WILLIAM Clay Ford Jr yesterday bowed to shareholder pressure and relinquished his role as chief executive of Ford, the ailing motor company set up by his great grandfather.
Alan Mulally, a vice-president of Boeing, takes up the top job with immediate effect, with Mr Ford remaining as executive chairman.
Mr Mulally, who was passed over for the top job at Boeing last summer, is a renowned cost-cutter. During a stint running Boeing’s commercial aircraft business he returned the unit to profitability, in part by cutting more than 30,000 jobs.
Ford’s investors have severely punished the company for making losses in North America in seven of the past eight quarters as soaring petrol prices dented demand for pick-up trucks and SUVs at the same time as pension and healthcare costs spiralled.
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The company’s shares have halved since the start of last year as pressure has mounted from investors for dramatic action to turn Ford around.
Last month, it emerged that Mr Ford had approached Carlos Ghosn, head of the Nissan-Renault alliance, to add the US carmaker to his group. But Mr Ghosn told Mr Ford that General Motors had already approached him and that he would consider the Ford proposal only if the GM discussions fell through.
Last Thursday Ford put its Aston Martin brand up for sale, to enable the company to focus more attention on its main businesses.
Two days later, Mr Ford hinted in an interview with Newsweek magazine that the Aston Martin sale was only part of a much larger restructuring.
“We understand we’re in trouble in North America. We understand that it requires extraordinary action, and we are taking that. It’s important that people understand that we get it,” Mr Ford told Newsweek.
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Mr Ford added that he was actively looking for new managers and suggested that even his own job was not safe.
Investors welcomed the appointment of Mr Mulally, sending the company’s shares up by $0.36, or 4.3 per cent, to $8.75 in after-hours trading.
Mr Ford, 49, took up the mantle of chief executive at the carmaker in 2001. Mr Mulally, 61, a native of Kansas, joined Boeing in 1969.