Bill Ford replaced by Alan Mulally as CEO of Ford

Henry Ford descendent, Bill Ford, has stepped down on Tuesday from his position as CEO and is replaced by 61-year-old Alan Mulally. The former executive VP of Boeing is intent on turning around Ford’s misfortunes, which included a $1.4 billion dollar loss for the first half of the year. Bill Ford will remain as chairman of the company.

Threats of further job cuts and a looming inflow of cheap Chinese imports do not worry Mulally, who the industry believes may not be able to cope with the transition into the gloomy domestic auto sector. Mulally had worked at Boeing for 37 years and lead a successful turnaround of its commercial airline division and its labor relations. In fact, he was labelled one of the “Best Leaders of 2005” by Business Week.

Other potentials for the top position were CEO of Renault/Nissan Carlos Ghosn and DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche. Bill Ford insists that neither the directors or his family, who still retain 40% of the company’s voting rights, pressured him into resigning from the position.