Ford’s EV strategy is losing one of its most closely tied executives. Doug Field, the former Apple and Tesla engineering chief who became a visible architect of Ford’s software and EV strategy, is leaving as part of a wider leadership reorganization that folds his team into a new ”product creation and industrialization” group.
The timing says plenty. Ford is still trying to prove it can do two hard things at once: build profitable traditional trucks and commercial vehicles while also becoming a serious software and EV company. That is the sort of balancing act Detroit likes to describe as transformation, and investors usually describe as expensive.
Doug Field’s role at Ford
Field joined Ford in 2021 after senior engineering roles at Tesla and Apple, and he brought a second career chapter with him: he started at Ford as a development engineer from 1987 to 1993. At Ford, he reported directly to CEO Jim Farley and was given responsibility for embedded software and hardware operations, covering everything from vehicle controls and enterprise connectivity to driver assistance, architecture, validation, and digital engineering tools.
That made him one of the few executives with a hand on the company’s entire in-car tech stack, including infotainment, navigation, connected services, vehicle cybersecurity, and driver-assist systems. He also became a regular presence on Ford’s earnings calls, where Farley often singled him out. In a car industry still trying to stop treating software like an optional add-on, that kind of remit is a big deal.
Ford’s new structure puts Kumar Galhotra in charge
Under the new setup, Ford’s EV and design team will move into the ”product creation and industrialization” organization led by COO Kumar Galhotra. The change also lines up with Ford’s broader plan to hit an 8% adjusted profit margin for its Ford+ commercial business by 2029, while refreshing 80% of its North American portfolio by volume and 70% of its global lineup over the same period.
That portfolio reset is where the real pressure sits. Ford has to keep scaling its profitable trucks and vans while launching new EV hardware without letting either side drag down the other. It is not a brand-new problem for automakers, but the industry’s recent record suggests that separating ambition from execution is much easier on a slide deck than in a factory.
The skunkworks program lives on
Field was also central to Ford’s skunkworks effort, the secretive internal program that created the Universal Electric Vehicle platform and aimed to deliver a low-cost EV. That team has since been renamed Advanced Development Projects, and it is now led by Alan Clarke, a former Tesla executive who has been promoted to vice president of the group.
The naming changes are cosmetic; the strategic signal is not. Ford still wants a cheaper EV platform, a midsized pickup, and next-generation F-150 and F-Series Super Duty trucks, and it still wants those programs to land on time. The open question is whether a reorganized chain of command makes that easier, or whether Ford has simply decided that the org chart deserves a turn at the wheel.