After 33 years with Ford Motor Co., A.J. Wagner, will retire from his post as vice president, effective January 1, 2007, the company said.
Wagner has also been serving as president of the company’s financing division, Ford Motor Credit Co., since October 2003. The division provides retail and lease vehicle financing, dealer inventory financing and commercial lending for the Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Mazda brands.
In his role, Wagner led the sales, marketing, credit and brand functions for the division. Wagner joined Ford in 1973 and was at one point in the ’90s the company’s VP-marketing. A Ford spokesperson said the company has no replacement for Wagner in mind and has not set a timetable to fill the position.
Wagner’s decision comes amid a slew of changes at the automaker. Earlier this month, Ford announced that Bill Ford was relinquishing his role as president and CEO of the company, and that longtime Boeing executive Alan Mulally was being appointed to the post.
“I was determined that our turnaround effort required the additional skills of an executive who has led a major manufacturing enterprise through such challenges before,” Ford told employees in a memo announcing Mulally’s appointment.
The “turnaround effort” is Ford’s Way Forward plan, which kicked into gear in January. The plan to bring the company back to profitability includes slashing between 25,000-30,000 jobs in the 2006 to 2012 time period and cutting operational costs by billions of dollars. In announcing the plan, the company said it would bring “more clarity for the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands—with a sharper focus on the customer and a clear point of view that will appeal to more buyers than today.”
But in August, car shoppers purchased 255,112 Ford vehicles, down 12% compared with August 2005 when Ford offered employee prices to customers.
Ford is based in Dearborn, MI.
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