Ford's incoming COO focuses on cost cuts, launches, change

CIE Automotive India

26/02/2020 12:57

DETROIT, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co's  F.N  incoming
chief operating officer will outline on Wednesday his priorities
for the company's turnaround, including cost cuts and more
efficient new-vehicle launches in a year that includes the
introduction of a redesigned F-150 full-sized pickup truck. 
    Strategy chief Jim Farley, who begins his role as Ford COO
on March 1 after being appointed earlier this month, is
scheduled to speak at a Wolfe Research conference in New York
early on Wednesday. Slides for his presentation showed other key
parts of his strategy, include speeding up Ford's push in
vehicle connectivity and its commercial vehicle business.
    The slides also show a focus on growing the battery electric
vehicle business of the No. 2 U.S. automaker. 
    Ford has acknowledged that mistakes had hurt its
introduction of the redesigned Explorer SUV. 
    The company named Farley its COO on Feb. 7, and promised
investors it would kick a slow-moving turnaround into higher
gear.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2A70KL 
    On Tuesday, shares hit their lowest in more than a decade as
a rapidly escalating coronavirus epidemic that began in China
threatened sales outside the United States.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2AP12N urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2AP0I4
    Ford is in the midst of a global restructuring and faces
slumping demand in China, its second-largest market. Chief
Executive Jim Hackett has said the No. 2 U.S. automaker needs to
move with greater speed.
    It has booked $3.7 billion of a projected $11 billion in
charges it previously said it would take, and expects to book
another $900 million to $1.4 billion this year.
    As part of its restructuring, Ford formed a wide-ranging
alliance on commercial, electric and autonomous vehicles with
Volkswagen AG  VOWG_p.DE  and sold its money-losing operations
in India to a venture controlled by India's Mahindra & Mahindra.
 MAHN.NS 
    In China, Ford lost $771 million last year, about half the
2018 loss, and its market share there has shrunk. Ford has been
struggling to revive sales there since its business began
slumping in late 2017, and prospects look more cloudy now that
the world's largest market has been hit by a fast-spreading
coronavirus.

 (Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
 ((benjamin.klayman@thomsonreuters.com; 313-600-2277; Reuters
Messaging: benjamin.klayman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))