Galhotra Takes The Reins As Lincoln's New President
As one of his first major moves since becoming CEO, Ford’s Mark Fields named vice president of engineering Kumar Galhotra as president of Lincoln, effective September 1.
Automotive News reports Galhotra, who will report directly to the new CEO, will be the premium brand’s first president since Al Giombetti left the post in 2007. The move will also reduce executive vice president of global sales, service and marketing Jim Farley’s role with Lincoln, which will be focused on marketing the brand once Galhotra takes over.
The new president — an engineer and product executive who has worked with Lincoln, Ford and Mazda in the past — will bring his marketing experience to the table as Lincoln prepares to launch in China later in 2014; he headed Ford’s Asia Pacific division from 2009 to 2013, and helped bring about the new Ranger pickup to market.
Speaking of the division, engineering director Jim Holland will move from there to replace Galhotra as Ford’s vice president of engineering, reporting to global product development chief Raj Nair.
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Will Harold be joining him at Lincoln.
Maybe he will finally succeed in moving Lincoln upmarket. Buick is very lonely right now. Oh who am I kidding, Lincoln is on its death bed and will be until they figure out a way to build something other than a rebadged appliance.
Kumar Galhotra, Lincoln Motor Company and Carriage Works LTD, INC. a Division of the Ford Motor Company. I think your first move should be to Sajeev Mehta as Brand Manager. Pedestrian impact regs require tall hoods and belt-lines, I say - might as well bring back the Parthenon style grill!
As a previous owner of a Mark VIII I can attest to the car's many flaws, but of all the cars I owned I loved it the most. It had distinctive styling (yes polarizing styling, but I think these cars are beautiful), an old school V8, and a long hood! The new Lincolns are nice cars, but they don't grab me like the Lincoln Marks do. I would prefer a 2011 Town Car over any current Lincoln offerings. Certainly I would be very interested and excited about a Lincoln version of the Mustang, but I don't think it will ever happen. I think Lincoln's time has come and gone in the USA. It's a different world now.