Ford continues the restructuring of its EV business with the dissolution of the Model e division that focused on designing, producing and scaling electric vehicles and connected technology.
In addition to this move, the automaker has announced that Doug Field, the head of the Model e unit, is leaving the company as part of a wider reorganization.
Field, who joined Ford five years ago to lead the company’s electric vehicle and software projects, “has elected to leave the company after a transition over the next month,” the automaker announced in a press release.
Ford Model e Chief Leaves After Five Years
Before joining Ford, Doug Field, worked as VP of special projects at Apple for three years, acting as the de-facto head of the ill-fated Apple car project. Prior to his tenure with Apple, he spent five years at Tesla, first as its vice president of vehicle programs and later as senior vice president of engineering.
“I’m honored to have been a part of leading Ford during an unprecedented period of technology and market disruption,” Field said. “I believe Ford now has a winning technology strategy and plan. The first breakthrough product off the Universal EV platform – a mid-size pickup – is on its way to production. We have clearly defined hardware, software, and electrification plans across our full product line. The initial quality of our core technologies is now near the top of the industry.”
Doug Field’s departure from Ford signals a shift in the way the automaker is approaching electrification and software. The company said it formed a new end-to-end organization called Product Creation and Industrialization, which will integrate the company’s Electric Vehicle, Digital and Design team that Field headed with its industrial operations. By creating this new division, Ford will be able to “turn its highest‑volume vehicles into platforms for digital growth.”
The new division will be headed by Ford COO Kumar Galhotra and is expected to help accelerate the Ford+ plan and its target of an 8% adjusted EBIT margin by 2029 “by delivering one of the most intensive product, software, and services rollouts in Ford’s history,” the carmaker said.
Next-Gen F-150 and F-Series Super Duty Headline Slew of New Products Arriving by 2029
Ford aims to refresh 80% of its North American portfolio by volume and 70% of its global portfolio by volume by 2029, the company said. That includes the first vehicle based on the Universal Electric Vehicle (UEV) platform—a midsize pickup—and the next-generation F-150 and F-Series Super Duty trucks.
By 2030, Ford is planning for nearly 90% of its global nameplates to offer electrified powertrains, including advanced hybrids, extended-range electric vehicles, and fully electric vehicles. It is also gunning for 90% of its vehicles by volume to feature updated electrical architectures, in-house developed user experiences and hardware, and next-generation over-the-air capability. This is expected to enable a continuous improvement in experiences and services, as well as a rapid rollout of BlueCruise and the Ford Digital Experience, “providing a scalable path toward future Level 3 autonomous driving.”
In addition, the “skunkworks” model that has been successfully used in California to develop the UEV platform will be leveraged for select future programs, Ford said, possibly referring to the future Tesla Model 3/Y rival. Speaking of the UEV architecture, Ford said it has already yielded breakthroughs in other areas, including high-efficiency motors that will improve future hybrids, and LFP battery engineering capability that now serves as the foundation for Ford Energy, the automaker’s stationary energy storage business.
“We’re on the eve of the biggest change the company has seen, which is delivering all this new software and hardware and products and services in ’27 through ’29 that will get us not only to that 8% margin, but transform the company,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said on a call with media on April 15. “This is the team that’s going to deliver this.”
