Another change in top management at Ford Germany
Christian Weingärtner, 42, was appointed Managing Director Marketing and Sales and Managing Director for Ford Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2022. However, as part of the comprehensive restructuring in Cologne, the manager left the management board in November 2024, but continued his operational duties as Managing Director of the DACH region unchanged – until now.
As announced by Ford-Werke GmbH, Weingärtner is moving internally to Ford Europe – as Vice President Europe Business Transformation. In his new role, Weingärtner will report directly to John Lawler, Vice Chair and Chief Financial Officer of Ford Motor Company. Before his position as Managing Director and Managing Director Marketing and Sales for Ford Germany, Austria and Switzerland, he gained extensive experience developing Ford’s business in Europe as Director, Strategy, Autonomous Vehicles & Mobility.
Weingärtner’s duties as Managing Director of the DACH region will be taken over by Christoph Herr, previously responsible for Ford’s service and parts business in the entire DACH region as Director of the Ford Service Organisation, according to the press release. “Prior to joining Ford, Herr, among other things, headed the Digital Solutions division at MAN Truck & Bus and the associated digitalization of core processes in sales and aftersales, as well as the further development of digital fleet management solutions,” Ford writes in its press release.
The departure of Martin Sander, Managing Director Germany, to Volkswagen in June led to a fundamental reorganisation of the entire management team at the Cologne-based company. The Ford headquarters in Dearborn decided to reduce the German management team from ten to four people – only Weingärtner for sales and Rene Wolf for production remained from the previous management team. The new additions, Dave Johnston (Finance) and Marcus Wasserberg (Labour Director), completed the quartet. Since November, only Johnston and Wasserberg have been in charge of Ford-Werke GmbH.
Ford is currently in a difficult position. Since 2024, it has only built electric cars at its Cologne plant, namely the Explorer and Capri. However, the company introduced reduced working hours in November until the Christmas holidays – for 2,000 of the 13,000 employees in Cologne. A few days later, the car manufacturer announced it would cut 4,000 jobs in Europe by 2027, including 2,900 in Cologne. Short-time working was also extended on a day-by-day basis until the first quarter of 2025.
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