Ford Motor Company Loses VP and Brand Officer, First Mobility CEO

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

There’s two departures occuring at Ford Motor Company for anyone thinking of advancing their career. The automaker announced late Wednesday that Musa Tariq, vice president of the company and Ford’s chief brand officer, is leaving the automaker, effective this week. Joining him is Raj Rao, CEO of Ford Smart Mobility, who takes his leave on the 1st of May.

The mobility division was created in 2016 by former Ford CEO Mark Fields, with Rao serving as its CEO. The subsidiary’s chairman, Jim Hackett, now has a pretty good idea of what Fields’ job entailed. Tariq joined the company in January 2017.

No reason was given for either of the two departures, but the personnel loss leaves Ford with some very important roles to fill.

For now, Joy Falotico, Ford’s chief marketing officer and group vice president of Lincoln, is filling in for Tariq. She’s held that position since March 1st, when the sudden (and murky) departure of Raj Nair, head of Ford’s North American operations, led to a shakeup in the company’s top ranks.

“Musa is a proven leader of brand transformation, having led similar work at some of the world’s most admired brands before coming to Ford, and he is a leader known for creativity and social media expertise,” said Hackett in a statement. “Over the last year, he has been helping to drive the same transformation at Ford. We are grateful for his service and will carry on the work he has started.”

There’s no company statement concerning Rao’s impending departure, but the news was confirmed by a Ford spokesperson via the Detroit Free Press. Ford lured Rao away from Silicon Valley in October 2016 as it sought new revenue streams in the mobility realm. Since the creation of Ford Smart Mobility, itself based in Palo Alto, California, it seems the burgeoning segment is all the automaker can talk about (when it’s not talking trucks).

Besides Silicon Valley startups, which regularly get bought up by automakers, Ford has to contend with rival General Motors in the mobility arena. Already, GM is exploring new directions for its Maven car-sharing service, and there’s a good chance it will soon expand to privately owned GM vehicles. Ford’s Chariot shuttle service is also in expansion mode. Ford and GM also compete with the likes of Waymo and Uber in autonomous vehicle development, which forms the backbone of many future mobility plans. To keep up, Ford needs to bring on staff who know how to position the company at the forefront of the growing field.

Tariq sharpened his skills at Apple, while Rao formerly worked for 3M. Ford hasn’t announced a replacement for the latter executive at this time.

(Update: Ford has informed us that, due to a reorganization of its mobility team in January, the position occupied by Rao at Ford Smart Mobility has ceased to exist. The executive still uses the title on his LinkedIn page.)

[Image: Ford Motor Company]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Sub-600 Sub-600 on Mar 22, 2018

    I want to be in charge of car development, how easy is that gig at Ford? “We’ve got nothing in the pipeline, boss.” “Outstanding! Keep up the good work.”

  • RedRocket RedRocket on Mar 22, 2018

    The lack of mention of any landing spot for Tariq along with the quick departure, even the "ever-popular "to pursue other opportunities" suggests he was asked to leave. Hope it wasn't another Nair situation. The lack of a statement about Rao is equally odd. Ford strikes me as a company in turmoil who have staked everything on the ongoing popularity of trucks and SUVs.

  • Cprescott People do silly things to their cars.
  • Jeff This is a step in the right direction with the Murano gaining a 9 speed automatic. Nissan could go a little further and offer a compact pickup and offer hybrids. VoGhost--Nissan has  laid out a new plan to electrify 16 of the 30 vehicles it produces by 2026, with the rest using internal combustion instead. For those of us in North America, the company says it plans to release seven new vehicles in the US and Canada, although it’s not clear how many of those will be some type of EV.Nissan says the US is getting “e-POWER and plug-in hybrid models” — each of those uses a mix of electricity and fuel for power. At the moment, the only all-electric EVs Nissan is producing are the  Ariya SUV and the  perhaps endangered (or  maybe not) Leaf.In 2021, Nissan said it would  make 23 electrified vehicles by 2030, and that 15 of those would be fully electric, rather than some form of hybrid vehicle. It’s hard to say if any of this is a step forward from that plan, because yes, 16 is bigger than 15, but Nissan doesn’t explicitly say how many of those 16 are all-battery, or indeed if any of them are.  https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/25/24111963/nissan-ev-plan-2026-solid-state-batteries
  • Jkross22 Sure, but it depends on the price. All EVs cost too much and I'm talking about all costs. Depreciation, lack of public/available/reliable charging, concerns about repairability (H/K). Look at the battering the Mercedes and Ford EV's are taking on depreciation. As another site mentioned in the last few days, cars aren't supposed to depreciate by 40-50% in a year or 2.
  • Jkross22 Ford already has an affordable EV. 2 year old Mach-E's are extraordinarily affordable.
  • Lou_BC How does the lower case "armada" differ from the upper case "Armada"?
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