Doug Field, the engineer Ford Motor hired in 2021 to run its electric-vehicle and software push after stints at Apple and Tesla, will leave the automaker next month, the company said Wednesday. Field serves as chief EV, digital and design officer, and Ford said he has elected to leave after a transition period of about a month.
The departure lands in the middle of Chief Executive Jim Farley's reorganization of the company's EV and software operations. Ford is folding Field's responsibilities into a new Product Creation and Industrialization organization led by Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra, and it will not name a direct replacement. Farley said the new structure is meant to help Ford hit a target of an 8 percent adjusted EBIT margin by 2029 and carry through the rollout of its Universal Electric Vehicle platform, a midsize pickup due next year, and a next generation of F-150 and Super Duty trucks.
The handoff
Alan Clarke, a former Tesla engineer who runs Ford's California skunkworks lab, is being promoted to vice president of advanced development projects and will continue to lead work on the UEV platform, which Ford plans to use as the basis for a family of lower-cost EVs starting with a $30,000 midsize truck in 2027. Galhotra's new unit will own vehicle engineering, software and manufacturing end to end, with a mandate to refresh 80 percent of Ford's North American portfolio by volume and 70 percent of its global portfolio by volume by 2029.
The backdrop
Field's exit comes roughly five months after Ford took a $19.5 billion writedown tied to a pullback in EV investment and the realignment of its product plans. The company scrapped a next-generation electric pickup codenamed Project T3 and an electric commercial van, discontinued the F-150 Lightning and shifted near-term spending toward hybrids and gasoline trucks and SUVs. Ford's writedown dwarfed the roughly $7.6 billion in similar charges disclosed by General Motors, its closest domestic rival.
During Field's tenure, Ford rolled out its BlueCruise hands-free driver-assist system and the Android-powered Ford Digital Experience infotainment system, and stood up the skunkworks team now building the UEV platform. Software revenue still fell short of the company's projections, and Ford shelved a planned next-generation electrical architecture, FNV4, in favor of an upgraded version of its current system.
Ford did not detail where Field is going next. Asked about his plans on a call with reporters, Field declined to disclose specifics, and the company said only that he is pursuing a next chapter. Ford has also not publicly quantified the financial impact of the latest reorganization.
Field said he was content to pass the baton to Ford's industrial and manufacturing team as the UEV pickup moves toward production in Kentucky. Farley said the reshuffled organization is the team that will deliver Ford's 2027-to-2029 product wave, the period in which the company expects to hit its margin target and begin offering an eyes-off driving system in 2028.