Nasser Is Replaced At Ford; Company Faces Restructuring

Autoparts Report, Nov 3, 2001

Ford's CEO, Jack Nasser, has been ousted amid several events that hurt the company's bottom line. The company was hit hard by the Firestone tire crisis, a rash of embarrassing product quality glitches, and increased competition.

Meanwhile, Ford's U.S. business deteriorated, as a resurgent General Motors Corp. and import automakers gained buyers at Ford's expense. And several of Nasser's own efforts to remake the company were largely ineffective. William Clay Ford Jr. will replace Jacques Nasser as chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co.

Nick Scheele, 57, currently group vice president for North America, will become chief operating officer of Ford Motor. Jim Padilla, 55, group vice president for manufacturing and quality, will take over Scheele's job as head of North America. Scheele recently moved to North America after a brief stint as head of Ford Europe.

Ford and his team plan to give the company a "back to basics" overhaul. Scheele is crafting a turnaround plan that is expected to be outlined in December and is likely to include cost cuts of $3 billion to $4 billion and perhaps an additional 2,000 white-collar job cuts. "I think we lost our focus in several areas, and some of it may be chasing a strategy and some of it may be outside events like Firestone," Ford said.