Raj Nair Out at Ford Over "Inappropriate Behavior" [UPDATED]
Raj Nair, the now-former executive vice president and president for North America, had a reputation as being one of the top “car guys” in Dearborn.
He may have had a different kind of reputation inside the halls of Ford HQ. That’s because Ford announced today that he’s leaving the company, effective immediately, following an “internal investigation into reports of inappropriate behavior.”
Ford’s investigation found that Nair behaved in a way “inconsistent with the company’s code of conduct.”
“We made this decision after a thorough review and careful consideration,” Ford President and CEO Jim Hackett said in a press release. “Ford is deeply committed to providing and nurturing a safe and respectful culture and we expect our leaders to fully uphold these values.”
Nair was also quoted in the release: “I sincerely regret that there have been instances where I have not exhibited leadership behaviors consistent with the principles that the company and I have always espoused. I continue to have the utmost faith in the people of Ford Motor Company and wish them continued success in the future.”
Nair had been in the leadership role since the beginning of June 2017. Before that, he was both the company’s head of global product development and its chief technical officer. He had been with the company for roughly three decades.
Ford plans to name a replacement sometime “in the near future.”
CNBC reported that Ford stock is trading flat in after-hours trading, as of this writing.
Details are scarce, but in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations, a slew of high-profile corporate executives have been accused of inappropriate conduct at work, usually involving conduct that is considered sexual harassment. Ford has already come under fire due to accusations of ongoing sexual harassment at its Chicago Assembly plant. Whether what Nair is accused of is sexual in nature or not is not yet known.
This is a developing story and we will update as more information comes to light. We have reached out to Ford and a spokesman declined further comment.
UPDATE: The Detroit News is reporting an anonymous complaint led to the investigation.
[Image: Ford]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Maybe this is different, maybe its about the Focus RS motor? perhaps he told someone it doesn't have a proper head gasket that works and admitting that failure is not " deeply committed to providing and nurturing a respectful culture to the late Henry " :D
Theses top executives love to use their power to get their rocks off! From Bill Crosby to Harvey Weinstein; it about doing "what I want if you want the job; do this for..." It a great feeling no pun intended...to wheel power over some other person like this!