• by Karl Greenberg , December 14, 2006

Ford Motor has reshuffled North American executive sales and marketing staff, the company confirms. Among the moves is the shift of Al Giombetti, corporate vice president and president of Ford and Lincoln Mercury, to executive director of marketing and sales for Ford customer service.

Giombetti will no longer be a corporate officer, and the Ford and Lincoln Mercury president position has been eliminated.

Effective Jan. 1, when Giombetti takes the new post, he will report to Darryl Hazel, senior vice president and president of customer service. Ford's divisional marketing manager will be Barry Engle, who until last month, was president of Ford Mercosul, and Ford of Brazil.

Meanwhile, Ford and Lincoln Mercury sales will be overseen by Randy Ortiz, who headed sales for Lincoln Mercury. He will report to group Vice President of North America Cisco Codina. Mike Richards continues as general manager of Lincoln Mercury marketing, reporting to Codina.

As David Cole, head of the University of Michigan's Center for Automotive Research, points out, the company--which lost $5.8 billion last quarter--has put all of its cards on the table. Besides putting its operations up as collateral in an effort to raise cash, Ford is cutting 10,000 white-collar jobs as part of the accelerated "Way Forward" plan, following the appointment of Alan Mulally to the CEO spot.

"The changes are wholesale across the company," said Cole. "Redundancy is a huge issue at Ford. The white-collar work force there was about the size of GM's, so in that sense it was overpopulated. Nobody is standing on top of a building throwing thousand dollar bills in the air."

The changes come as the long-neglected Lincoln brand has begun rolling out its largest number of new or redesigned vehicles in its history.

Tom Grill, who remains Lincoln brand manager, said in a company release that the brand is spending more marketing dollars over the next year than it ever has during a 12-month period. Lincoln--which launched its "Advancing the American Dream" brand marketing platform in June, with its "Reach Higher" tagline--began selling the MKZ mid-sized sedan and redesigned Navigator last month.

Ford and Lincoln Mercury spokesperson Jim Cain said the changes adhere to Ford's "Way Forward" restructuring, which includes trimming one-third of its North American salaried work force. He said it also addresses last month's departure of Marty Collins, executive director of Ford and Lincoln Mercury marketing.

The goal, Cain said, is developing "clear lines of authority, expanded range and responsibility, faster decision-making--all to meet our sales and market-share goals with the best possible service to dealers."

Cole said those goals are not limited to Ford, Lincoln and Mercury.

"Mulally's goal is standardized processes and systems worldwide. He will put Ford of Europe, PAG, Ford of U.S., and Mazda under the same methods and processes; that means divvying up responsibilities and processes; you can expect to see fairly significant shrinkage of the organization."

The Detroit News reported that Ford is also cutting its 17 regional sales and marketing offices, consolidating them into 11 offices.