Ford decided some time ago to largely eschew traditional forms of advertising and instead focus on things like connected vehicle services, customer experience, and the post-purchase timeline as a way to build brand loyalty and even attract new customers. The automaker has also been keen to hire quite a few of its newer executives away from tech companies like Apple, and its latest acquisition is no exception, as The Blue Oval has recruited former Apple veteran Peter Stern to serve as the president of the newly formed Ford Integrated Services division.
Ford Integrated Services will create and market software-enabled customer experiences across Ford Blue, Model e, and Ford Pro, according to the automaker, and Peter Stern seems like the perfect fit to lead that effort given the fact that he served as the vice president of services at Apple for more than six years, and was a driving force behind the launch of the tech giant’s expansive portfolio of services, including Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, MLS Season Pass, and Apple One.
“This is transformational, because the cornerstone of our Ford+ plan is creating incredible customer services and experiences enabled by great hardware and software,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley. “There’s simply no one in the world better able than Peter Stern to build this strategically vital part of our business.” At Ford, Stern will be tasked with leading the company’s services marketing, select out-of-vehicle customer experiences, and Ford Next, as well as building out the automaker’s BlueCruise hands-free highway driver assist feature business.
“I love creating new services businesses and this is the perfect chance to do just that,” Stern said. “The auto industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, from gas engines to electric vehicles and from human to autonomous driving. At the same time, the basis for differentiation is shifting from the vehicles alone to the integration of hardware, software, and services. I’ll be in the middle of something truly historic and am particularly fortunate to do that at Ford, which has been democratizing automotive technology for 120 years and counting. You couple that with the Ford family’s involvement in the business and commitment to doing the right thing in the long term and this is really where I belong.”
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Comments
Mr. Stern, maybe you can kick some of your managers in the buttocks and get my 2023 Maverick (Hybrid) built. I ordered it on Sept. 15, 2022.
Hi Papi, Ford dealer sales guy here:
I ordered ’23 Mav Hybrid’s for two customers on 9/19/22, just a few days after your order, both Lariats, both FWD. In December we modified one of the orders to try to get an earlier build, required taking out the Lariat Lux pkg and the Copilot 360 Assist pkg, and the factory spray-in bedliner. Saved that customer about $3360, but then he did not get the Sirius radio. That customer got his Maverick in late April, was able to work out a way to have his Sirius with an aftermarket antenna, and we had Linex applied locally.
2nd Customer did not want to change, “Wanted what he Wanted”, and his is now scheduled to be built August 31st, with shipping, should get it by end of September or a few weeks after, or in other words, about a year from order to delivery.
So Maybe yours is also getting closer, if it was also delayed for some commodities. Well worth the wait, my son loves his and is getting great fuel economy – pushing 30 MPG everywhere he goes in California.
Hello Mr. Stern, in order to convincingly generate customer satisfaction , a product really needs to be made available. I have had a 2022 ( rolled over to a 2023 and now required to be re-ordered as a 2024 ) F-350 PSD Platinum which I ordered 8/30 / 2021 and have no truck , vin number or production date . Ford Customer Service needs some transformational upgrade to be sure and sooner than later.
Great, maybe he can get Ford to stop announcing software updates that take 2 plus years to deploy. Blue Cruise 1.2/1.3 anyone!???