Ford of Europe head of passenger vehicles de Waard to retire

Ford of Europe’s head of passenger vehicles, Roelant de Waard, will retire on Dec. 31 after more than 30 years with the automaker, the company said.

His replacement will be announced at later date, Ford said in a statement on Monday.

De Waard, 59, joined Ford in 1990 in his native Netherlands and worked in Ford’s global headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, from 1996 to 1998 as global marketing strategy manager.

He was appointed head of European sales in 2008 after serving as as chairman of Ford of Britain. He added responsibility for Ford of Europe’s marketing function in 2011.

In 2019 de Waard was given his present title as part of a restructuring that separated commercial vehicles and cars, with Hans Schep assuming the responsibility for commercial vehicles under Ford of Europe President Stuart Rowley.

Ford has substantially scaled back in the Europe region. The company has taken more than $1 billion of structural costs out of its local operations the last two years, closing five factories, selling another and eliminating more than 10,000 jobs.

It has also entered into a strategic partnership with Volkswagen. Ford will develop pickups and commercial vans for VW, which will let Ford use its MEB electric-car platform.

Ford plans to sell only full-electric passenger cars in Europe by 2030.