>Mr. Hackett, 62, a longtime chief of the office furniture giant Steelcase and a former Ford director, joined the company’s operational ranks last year as head of its “smart mobility” operation, which includes driverless technology.<p>The self driving car aspect of his responsibilities seem pretty tangential to his professional skillset, and not a reason for his ascension to CEO.<p>NYT probably has some data saying that any headline including "self dirivng car" gets more eyeballs.
To some extent, the outgoing CEO is taking the fall for a nationwide slump in auto sales, which affects all auto companies.<p>I think this change is mainly window dressing: the outgoing CEO was committed to self-driving car research, as is the new guy. The fundamentals of the company are unlikely to change.<p>I suspect that the stock would go up in the short term if Ford started putting more money into SUVs and crossovers, at the expense of the company's long-term success. If Ford's investors believe that self-driving cars (or at least, semi-autonomous cars) are the future, they should be willing to put up with a low stock price over the next few years.
I have been a Ford investor for several years. This is a big surprise for me.<p>Ford has said they expect to have a fully autonomous vehicles by 2021 (link: <a href="https://corporate.ford.com/innovation/autonomous-2021.html" rel="nofollow">https://corporate.ford.com/innovation/autonomous-2021.html</a>). That always seemed too ambitious to me, but I welcome being proved wrong.<p>I invested in Ford partly because I think, unlike GM, they recognize an existential threat to their business and are trying to take steps to avoid it. It has been a horrible investment for me this far.
As a long time Ford shareholder, this article seems to be applying a cause and effect that is at best speculative. It's important not to confuse share price with company performance, because in the short term the two can have zero correlation.<p>This move has to do with one thing and one thing only- share price. The Ford family isn't satisfied with the image Fields was giving the company to investors and wants to shake things up in the hopes of jump starting the demand for its stock.<p>Despite the doom and gloom image portrayed in the article, Ford has actually been wildly profitable for years and is far from struggling. In fact they are coming off a series of the most profitable quarters in company history. This move has little to nothing to do with autonomous car development or electric for that matter, both of which Ford is already investing in heavily.
Anyone knows much about the new CEO, Jim Hackett? It seems like window dressing to me as I don't see Ford suddenly becoming like Tesla anytime soon, or ever.<p>Also looks like the outgoing CEO was the fall guy for the company's mediocre sales. Replacing him with a guy who oversees self-driving cars is not going to magically change the trend.