Ford has been doing a little bit of shuffling in terms of its executive positions in recent months, appointing Jon Huntsman to vice-chair of policy, naming Steven Armstrong its transformation officer for South America and India, and watching Henry Ford III step away from his position as director of investor relations. Now, the automaker has tabbed former Groupe Renault executive Franck Louis-Victor to lead Ford’s New Businesses Platform team.
The New Businesses Platform team is a key component of the automaker’s new Ford+ plan, which it revealed recently at the annual Capital Market’s Day presentation. Louis-Victor has over 20 years of experience with connected vehicles and mobility and data startups and oversaw the development and implementation of new business models and revenue streams for French automaker Renault. Additionally, he spent three years as the company’s alliance global director, Connected Vehicles Cloud and Services.
“We’re accelerating development of disruptive technologies and focusing on being a leader in areas that enhance always-on relationships with customers and give them increasing freedom of movement,” said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley. “Franck’s got great experience that will help his team and Ford nurture new ideas through the start-up phase, with the best opportunities launched on their own or integrated into our business units.”
As the VP of Ford’s New Businesses Platform team, Franck Louis-Victor will be tasked with creating a more rewarding customer service experience and developing ways to stay ahead of the competition, as well as disrupting the way Ford thinks and acts. His first order of business will be to create and execute a strategic plan for the automaker’s mobility and autonomous vehicles services, as well as Ford X – the company’s mobility incubator. Louis-Victor will officially begin his new position at Ford on July 1st.
We’ll have more on all of Ford’s executive shakeups soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
I for one am not sure that’s a great move. I still vividly remember when Renault acquired majority interest in AMC. It was a train wreck start to finish and it finished AMC.Their corporate mentality was horrible. Things may have changed with them but bringing european mentality to Ford I don’t see as being a positive. Time will tell.
Stellantis, owns 14 brands, Jeep, Ram, Maserati, Renault….he may have some insight into a large group of markets, those that ford is pulling out of, or not doing as well as they should. One thing is for sure, the leadership at the high end needs a shake up.
Farley sounds too much like Hackett with the techno babble. Why the heck do things like “disruptive technologies”, “always-on relationships” and “increased freedom of movement” mean for me? Instead of this nonsense, how about making vehicles that just works well and aren’t discontinued soon after all the bugs are worked out
Tom, you’re right on the money. If fords leadership spent more time on things such as “built to last”, and “Ford Tough” etc., the market would be taking care of itself.
And Quality Job 1
Agree 100 %