Ford Motor Co. said Doug Field, the head of its electric vehicles and technology business, is leaving the company, a shakeup announced Wednesday as part of Ford's latest round of executive reorganization. Field has led Ford's electrification and technology roadmap over the past five years and is regarded as one of the key figures in CEO Jim Farley's push to transform the traditional automaker into software-defined vehicles and advanced electric technology.
Field joined Ford in 2021. His previous resume spanned Silicon Valley technology giants such as Tesla and Apple. He served as senior vice president of engineering at Tesla, was responsible for the "special projects team" at Apple, and was deeply involved in Apple's car-making projects. It is worth mentioning that the starting point of his career was Ford - from 1987 to 1993, Field worked as a development engineer at Ford. This joining was once interpreted as a "return to the old club" and at the same time introduced technology company culture and software capabilities to Ford.
Within Ford, Field reported directly to CEO Farley and was initially responsible for a wide range of businesses related to embedded software and hardware, including vehicle control, Internet of Vehicles and enterprise-level connectivity, functional and integration verification, electronic and electrical architecture and platforms, driver assistance technology, and digital engineering tools. This means that the design, development and implementation of the entire technology stack for Ford and Lincoln brand vehicles, from infotainment systems, navigation, driver assistance functions to connected services and in-vehicle network security, are within his scope of responsibility.
Field has been Ford's public face as a technology executive, often receiving praise from Farley on the company's earnings calls. He participated in and promoted the major restructuring of Ford's business into three major units: the business segment for electric and digital services, the traditional internal combustion engine business, and the commercial vehicle business. At the same time, he is also the leader of the low-cost electric vehicle "skunkworks" project, a secret "guerrilla-style" group within Ford. He is responsible for building a new generation of low-priced electric vehicle platform, which is regarded as an important trump card for Ford to break through in the fierce EV competition.
Under the reorganization plan released Wednesday, Ford will create a new organization called "product creation and industrialization" to be led by Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra. Field's electric vehicle and design teams will be folded into the new organization to create tighter integration between product development and manufacturing execution. This structural adjustment is supported by a series of new business goals, including achieving an 8% adjusted profit margin for Ford+ commercial business by 2029, and completing product updates for 80% of models in the North American market and 70% of models in the global market based on sales volume.
The above-mentioned product update plan covers a number of key projects: a new architecture based on the "Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) platform", a mid-size pickup truck, and core product lines such as the next-generation F-150 and F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks. Among them, the UEV platform was incubated by the previous "skunkworks" team, which has now been officially renamed "Advanced Development Projects". Alan Clarke, a former executive from Tesla, has been leading this team and now serves as Ford's vice president of advanced development projects and will continue to promote the implementation of low-cost EV platforms and related models.