Motoring News
Today, 04 October 2015Emotional appeal is key to Ford's future, says new boss
Ford of Europe’s new president, Jim Farley, wants his customers to love cars as much as he does
Jim Farley is exactly the kind of enthusiast you don’t find at the top of multinational car companies.He’s too much like the rest of us: living and breathing cars, mending them, restoring them, racing them and trading them when he has time.In fact, as a young graduate, Ford’s new, 53-year-old president of Europe, Middle East and Africa almost didn’t join the car business because he feared corporate contamination might spoil his precious hobby.Farley eventually did join the car game, but only after spells in the computer and financial industries (“I liked computers, but not as much as cars”). Part of the persuasion process was receiving post-MBA offers from every major American car company. Another incentive was indulging his abiding curiosity to discover what made giant industrial firms tick.“There were times when I’d spend my vacation working on production lines,” he says without guile. “I loved seeing the greasy bits combine into a car and understanding how decisions were reached on volumes, prices and model mix.”This love of the whole business is a major reason why Farley accepted an offer last January to lead Ford in Europe. In a novel move that raised eyebrows at the time but now looks rather logical, Farley swapped his job as Ford’s Dearborn-based global sales and marketing chief directly with that of previous European president Stephen Odell, who had just led Ford of Europe out of recession and to the brink of profitability.On a day when Farley felt ready to discuss his new mission, we met in the
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