Ford Expected to Push Boundaries Under New Design Direction

LONDON – There’s been a raft of changes within Ford’s design organization since the start of the new year.

The avalanche of activity was triggered following the departure of J Mays, Ford’s longstanding vice president-design and chief creative officer, who was succeeded by Ford veteran Moray Callum Jan. 1.

With Callum now sitting in the head chair, there have been a number of trickle-down moves within the design group, chief of which is the appointment of Christopher Svensson to the role of design director-the Americas.

“I think Moray has a slightly different take than J,” Svensson tells WardsAuto in a telephone interview. “He also has a rich history of working for Ford and Mazda, and I think he might challenge the design teams a little bit more.

“J was very focused on brand and building brand, and I think he's instilled that in all of us,” he adds. “Quality and craftsmanship was foremost for J. We all have that knowledge now. I think it’s part of our DNA.

“With Moray, we expect a little bit more of a challenge in terms of pushing the boundaries of where design is going to go.”

British-born Svensson, who held the exterior design director-North America role for a year leading up to his latest appointment, fills Callum’s previous role overseeing all Ford-brand products.

“When (Callum) held this position, he also had the Lincoln brand under his arm,” Svensson points out. “But because we just made an announcement on a change in the Lincoln design leadership, we felt we needed to give that some breathing space.”

Lincoln design now is under the direction of David Woodhouse, who joined Ford’s defunct Premier Automotive Group in 1999 and most recently was chief designer based at Ford’s Ingenie studio here. Ingenie, a creative think tank for the automaker where Mays spent much of his time, is part of Ford’s global advanced-design facilities.

Max Wolff, who was in charge of Lincoln design, now reports to Woodhouse and is focused on design for the brand’s production models.

Advanced design now falls under Joel Piaskowski, who returns to Detroit following a stint as director-design for Ford Australia. As design director-Global Strategic Concept Group, he oversees all of the automaker’s exploratory design activities.

Automotive Landscape Getting Tougher

Svensson’s career at Ford began in 1992 when he became an exterior designer in the automaker’s German studio. Mays was appointed to the top role a mere five years later, and since then Svensson has held a number of key positions in the U.K., Europe, North America and Australia.

“Moray was one of (Mays’) right-hand men, and we have a long history,” Svensson says of Callum. “Every promotion I've ever had as I worked my way through the system has been under J Mays. We are very aligned directionally with what J taught us, and he brought some great inspiration for us to move forward.”

Svensson now will be responsible for the Ford brand’s interior and exterior design activities in North and South America, overseeing a 550-strong team of designers, modelers and technicians at Ford’s main studio in Dearborn, MI, and its facility in Camaçari, Brazil, part of the automaker’s Northeastern Complex site in Bahia.

Established in 2002 to gain insight into the developing market, Ford’s South American design studio is run by João Marcos Ramos. Ramos helped define the company’s design infrastructure in Brazil and was instrumental in the creation of the 48,000-sq.-ft. (4,500-sq.-m) facility in Camaçari, as well as a 3,200-sq.-ft. (300-sq.-m) space in São Bernardo, north of São Paulo.

“We've created some absolutely wonderful products in the last few years, and by no means are we going to throw the baby out with the bath water.” Svensson says. “We're going to build on the great momentum that we've got right now.

“The automotive design landscape is getting tougher and tougher,” he adds. “It's a harsh business. China and places like that could one day start to sell their products globally. So it's a very difficult marketplace, and having a really strong team is going to be critical for us to ensure that we can put the right products on the street.”

Svensson will continue to work closely with his Europe and Asia-Pacific counterpart, Martin Smith, to ensure progress under the One Ford initiative. Smith currently is in charge of the studio in Cologne, Germany, and the Australian design facility, now led by Detroit native Craig Metros.

“Craig's been there a long time and he's been doing some absolutely great work,” Svensson says. “Once again it's just building on the foundations of the great work that we've been doing in Asia-Pacific and making sure that we've got continuity with the people that we put in place to deliver on the plan.”

Design activities are paramount to the ongoing success of Ford, which is launching 16 new products this year, including the all-important ’15 F-150 and 50^th anniversary Mustang.

With Martin Smith’s imminent retirement likely to be announced in the coming months, another shift in the design operations matrix inevitably will take place on the other side of the Atlantic. Though Ford has a strong history of promoting from within, there’s been no word on Smith’s possible successor.