WHAT WENT WRONG FOR FIELDS

Ford’s main thrust on EVS is a 13-model lineup, including an SUV in 2020 with a 300-mile range

“It’s not for others to disrupt us. It’s for us to disrupt ourselves.” The words of Mark Fields at the Detroit show in January 2016, when he outlined plans for Ford to “go from an auto company to an auto and mobility company”.

He was right there. Disrupting Ford cost Fields his job, by taking his eye off the core business.

Of Fields’ departure, executive chairman Bill Ford said: “Bureaucracy and hierarchy overwhelmed what could be faster decision making.” In other words, India to Romania this autumn. The car will get a new interior and under-skin improvements.

But the Ecosport has already been re-engineered three times in its five-year lifespan. And with hindsight, the costs associated with that would have better been allocated to a higher-quality initial design.

There is another element to moving Ecosport production. Adding its volume bails out the Craiova plant, whose B-max compact MPV is selling in a shrinking market. It built only 40k units last year, despite being planned at over 100k. even if Fields’ plan had any conviction, he’d come up with it in the wrong company to begin with.

“It’s a challenge how to communicate how we’re not going from being an old company to a new one, but how we’re going to be a bigger one,” said Fields at that Detroit show, when asked if his plan would mean Ford’s car business suffered.

As Ford’s share price had fallen 40% since his arrival in 2014, all Fields achieved during his stint was making Ford a smaller company.

Ford is also moving to add a new European-themed crossover, codenamed C430, which can finally provide it with rival to the market-leading Qashqai. But it won’t arrive until 2019 — 13 years after the Nissan soft-roader’s debut.

Hackett might reflect that, given the choice again, Ford might not have spent scarce resources on re-engineering the Fusion for Europe, where it sells in a shrinking segment.

Hackett didn’t provide any detail on his plan to transition Ford to electrified powertrains, although finance director Bob Shanks confirmed that $4.5bn (£3.47bn) continues to be earmarked for new EVS and $1bn (£770m) for autonomous vehicles, with a target of a Level 4 self-driving car by 2021.

Ford’s main thrust on EVS is a 13-model line-up, including an SUV in 2020, possibly badged Model E, with a 300-mile range.

Rivals are being readied for a similar launch date, so Ford’s product planning is looking on schedule in this cutting-edge technology.