BREAKING NEWS:Toyota Announces New Lexus Leadership after GM Jim Farley Jumps to Ford
10-11-07, 07:54 AM
#1
Lexus Connoisseur
Thread Starter
BREAKING NEWS:Toyota Announces New Lexus Leadership after GM Jim Farley Jumps to Ford
By AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
Jim Farley, a marketing star at Toyota Motor Corp., is joining Ford Motor Co. as group vice president of marketing and communications.
Farley, 45, joins Ford next month.. He will be senior marketing officer and will report directly to CEO Alan Mulally.
One of Farley's first missions will be to decide the fate of the Mercury brand -- which has been losing sales and has no all-new products in the pipeline.
Farley spent two decades at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., most recently as general manager of Lexus Division. He previously was group vice president of marketing for Toyota Division.
Farley also oversaw the launch of Toyota’s youth subbrand, Scion.
Credit: Autoweek
Jim Farley, a marketing star at Toyota Motor Corp., is joining Ford Motor Co. as group vice president of marketing and communications.
Farley, 45, joins Ford next month.. He will be senior marketing officer and will report directly to CEO Alan Mulally.
One of Farley's first missions will be to decide the fate of the Mercury brand -- which has been losing sales and has no all-new products in the pipeline.
Farley spent two decades at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., most recently as general manager of Lexus Division. He previously was group vice president of marketing for Toyota Division.
Farley also oversaw the launch of Toyota’s youth subbrand, Scion.
Credit: Autoweek
10-11-07, 07:56 AM
#2
Lexus Connoisseur
Thread Starter
Deborah Wahl Meyer, Jim Press to Chrysler and now this! 
10-11-07, 08:06 AM
#3
It's o.k. for other automakers to grab Toyota/Lexus execs. It's further proof that some of the best and brightest were playing the right team.
However, does anyone know who the replacements are for all these people?
Toyota/Lexus need to progress (read change for the better), and they need to have the right people (or group of people) with the right ideas, goals, and dreams. That's the big news that Toyota/Lexus need to detail...
However, does anyone know who the replacements are for all these people?
Toyota/Lexus need to progress (read change for the better), and they need to have the right people (or group of people) with the right ideas, goals, and dreams. That's the big news that Toyota/Lexus need to detail...
10-11-07, 08:49 AM
#6
Lexus/Toyota needs to higher Bob Lutz. If anyone can inject some excitement into the slowwwwww Lexus brand it is Bob Lutz
For now, things are just stagnant over at Lexus. LF-A, GS-F is still a dream to many, and IS-F is still in the refrigerator waiting to be thawed.
For now, things are just stagnant over at Lexus. LF-A, GS-F is still a dream to many, and IS-F is still in the refrigerator waiting to be thawed.
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10-11-07, 09:07 AM
#9
You say this but I am sure if you got whatever off he got you may reconsider. $$$$ goes along way in people's decision making, whether you believe it or not. And for some, once you've hit the top, you move on and look for new challenges. This is his chance to be a savior of sorts, that in and of itself is a BIG opportunity IMO
10-11-07, 09:44 AM
#11
Lexus Fanatic
Must hell of a signup package to motivate all these top Toyota execs to jump ship. Hopefully Toyota still has plenty of good management people in reserve.
And I hope Jim will not regret it later as Ford is sinking fast as we speak and his career may very well sink with it.
And I hope Jim will not regret it later as Ford is sinking fast as we speak and his career may very well sink with it.
Last edited by XeroK00L; 10-11-07 at 09:55 AM.
10-11-07, 10:22 AM
#12
Lexus Connoisseur
Thread Starter
BREAKING NEWS:Toyota Announces New Leadership at Lexus after Jim Farley Jumps to Ford
TORRANCE, Calif., Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Jim Lentz, executive vice
president of Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., today announced the promotion of Scion Vice President Mark Templin to succeed Jim Farley as group vice president and general manager of Lexus, the company's luxury division.
Farley, who joined Toyota in 1990, resigned today to lead Ford Motor
Co.'s global marketing and communications group.
In addition, Lentz announced two other executive promotions. Jack
Hollis, corporate manager of Scion, will succeed Templin as vice president
of Scion, Toyota's youth brand, and Dawn Ahmed, Toyota Division national cross vehicle marketing manager, will replace Hollis as corporate manager of Scion.
Lentz praised Farley's work at Toyota but noted that "Toyota has an
amazingly deep bench, and the new promotions provided an opportunity to reward a number of top performers."
He also pointed out that "Farley's selection shows how highly the
industry prizes the talent, knowledge and experience of TMS associates."
"Mark Templin has done a brilliant job leading Scion through the
challenges of maintaining the brand's edgy identity while introducing new
products to the lineup," said Lentz. "Jack Hollis has an outstanding record
of accomplishment, including managing relations with TMS' private
distributors and launching internal initiatives to improve the customer
experience. And Dawn Ahmed has consistently achieved stellar results in
Toyota and Scion marketing. She was part of the original team that launched Scion and she helped guide the successful launch of the all-new Toyota Tundra.
Credit: PR Newswire - TMS USA
president of Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., today announced the promotion of Scion Vice President Mark Templin to succeed Jim Farley as group vice president and general manager of Lexus, the company's luxury division.
Farley, who joined Toyota in 1990, resigned today to lead Ford Motor
Co.'s global marketing and communications group.
In addition, Lentz announced two other executive promotions. Jack
Hollis, corporate manager of Scion, will succeed Templin as vice president
of Scion, Toyota's youth brand, and Dawn Ahmed, Toyota Division national cross vehicle marketing manager, will replace Hollis as corporate manager of Scion.
Lentz praised Farley's work at Toyota but noted that "Toyota has an
amazingly deep bench, and the new promotions provided an opportunity to reward a number of top performers."
He also pointed out that "Farley's selection shows how highly the
industry prizes the talent, knowledge and experience of TMS associates."
"Mark Templin has done a brilliant job leading Scion through the
challenges of maintaining the brand's edgy identity while introducing new
products to the lineup," said Lentz. "Jack Hollis has an outstanding record
of accomplishment, including managing relations with TMS' private
distributors and launching internal initiatives to improve the customer
experience. And Dawn Ahmed has consistently achieved stellar results in
Toyota and Scion marketing. She was part of the original team that launched Scion and she helped guide the successful launch of the all-new Toyota Tundra.
Credit: PR Newswire - TMS USA
10-11-07, 10:35 AM
#13
Lexus Connoisseur
Thread Starter
Ford Motor Snares Toyota Marketing Executive
By NORIHIKO SHIROUZU and JEFFREY MCCRACKEN
October 11, 2007 9:56 a.m.
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co., trying to bolster its marketing to put a stop to its eroding U.S. market share, has hired away Jim Farley, a rising sales-and-marketing star at Toyota Motor Corp., according to people familiar with the move.
Mr. Farley -- one of the architects behind Toyota's successful foray into America's youth market with funky small cars under the brand name Scion -- is the latest high-ranking American executive to ditch Toyota. He is expected to become Ford's group vice president of marketing and communications, according to people who work for Toyota and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ford likes Mr. Farley "because he's got operating experience," one of the people said. "He's got experience running things."
Successfully snatching Mr. Farley, 45 years old, away from Toyota is a big coup for Ford. Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mullaly has been under growing pressure from his board to start improving Ford's performance, especially in North America where the company's sales of vehicles have been steadily declining for months.
Sales of Ford's brands including Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover slid in the first nine months of this year to 1.98 million vehicles from 2.29 million vehicles a year earlier.
Still, thanks in part to aggressive cost reductions in North America, Ford was able to post a net profit of $750 million for the second quarter, rebounding from a net loss of $317 million in the year-earlier period. The company posted a pretax loss of $279 million in North America, however, compared with a pretax loss of $789 million a year ago.
Ford is known to have been looking for a chief marketing officer since earlier this year. Joe Laymon, Ford's group vice president in charge of human resources and labor affairs, said earlier this year the Dearborn, Mich., company was looking for a marketing chief.
The second-biggest U.S. auto maker by sales volume, which spends more than $2 billion a year on advertising, desperately needs a boost in its marketing leadership as its U.S. market share continues to slip.
Ford spokesman Mark Truby declined to comment. Irv Miller, a Toyota spokesman, also declined to comment.
The recent string of departures by high-profile American executives is a blow to Toyota. Last month, Jim Press, the then-highest-ranking American executive at Toyota, gave up his board of director position and joined Chrysler LLC. In August, Chrysler named Deborah Wahl Meyer as its chief marketing officer. Ms. Meyer was the top marketing executive at Lexus, Toyota's luxury brand.
The company had relied on Messrs. Press and Farley, among others, as the company's American faces to deflect any political backlash that might arise from its rapid growth in the U.S.
Perhaps more damaging, the company's inability to retain Messrs. Press and Farley and Ms. Meyer highlights what some insiders describe as growing discontent among American ranks about heavy-handed interventions from their bosses in Japan in formulating pricing and other key strategic decisions.
Those insiders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said American managers were particularly upset about the pricing strategy forced on them for the redesigned Toyota Tundra full-size pickup truck. Relatively high prices of the Tundra, which went on sale in the spring of this year, have forced Toyota to offer big discounts and other costly sales incentives to help them meet its sales on target. Toyota wants to sell 200,000 of them this year.
Mr. Farley, currently group vice president at Toyota's U.S. sales arm and manager of the Lexus brand, will be replaced by Mark Templin, 46, a vice president in charge of the Scion brand.
Credit: WSJ
October 11, 2007 9:56 a.m.
DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co., trying to bolster its marketing to put a stop to its eroding U.S. market share, has hired away Jim Farley, a rising sales-and-marketing star at Toyota Motor Corp., according to people familiar with the move.
Mr. Farley -- one of the architects behind Toyota's successful foray into America's youth market with funky small cars under the brand name Scion -- is the latest high-ranking American executive to ditch Toyota. He is expected to become Ford's group vice president of marketing and communications, according to people who work for Toyota and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ford likes Mr. Farley "because he's got operating experience," one of the people said. "He's got experience running things."
Successfully snatching Mr. Farley, 45 years old, away from Toyota is a big coup for Ford. Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mullaly has been under growing pressure from his board to start improving Ford's performance, especially in North America where the company's sales of vehicles have been steadily declining for months.
Sales of Ford's brands including Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover slid in the first nine months of this year to 1.98 million vehicles from 2.29 million vehicles a year earlier.
Still, thanks in part to aggressive cost reductions in North America, Ford was able to post a net profit of $750 million for the second quarter, rebounding from a net loss of $317 million in the year-earlier period. The company posted a pretax loss of $279 million in North America, however, compared with a pretax loss of $789 million a year ago.
Ford is known to have been looking for a chief marketing officer since earlier this year. Joe Laymon, Ford's group vice president in charge of human resources and labor affairs, said earlier this year the Dearborn, Mich., company was looking for a marketing chief.
The second-biggest U.S. auto maker by sales volume, which spends more than $2 billion a year on advertising, desperately needs a boost in its marketing leadership as its U.S. market share continues to slip.
Ford spokesman Mark Truby declined to comment. Irv Miller, a Toyota spokesman, also declined to comment.
The recent string of departures by high-profile American executives is a blow to Toyota. Last month, Jim Press, the then-highest-ranking American executive at Toyota, gave up his board of director position and joined Chrysler LLC. In August, Chrysler named Deborah Wahl Meyer as its chief marketing officer. Ms. Meyer was the top marketing executive at Lexus, Toyota's luxury brand.
The company had relied on Messrs. Press and Farley, among others, as the company's American faces to deflect any political backlash that might arise from its rapid growth in the U.S.
Perhaps more damaging, the company's inability to retain Messrs. Press and Farley and Ms. Meyer highlights what some insiders describe as growing discontent among American ranks about heavy-handed interventions from their bosses in Japan in formulating pricing and other key strategic decisions.
Those insiders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said American managers were particularly upset about the pricing strategy forced on them for the redesigned Toyota Tundra full-size pickup truck. Relatively high prices of the Tundra, which went on sale in the spring of this year, have forced Toyota to offer big discounts and other costly sales incentives to help them meet its sales on target. Toyota wants to sell 200,000 of them this year.
Mr. Farley, currently group vice president at Toyota's U.S. sales arm and manager of the Lexus brand, will be replaced by Mark Templin, 46, a vice president in charge of the Scion brand.
Credit: WSJ
10-11-07, 10:36 AM
#14
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
I guess Lexus isn't paying them enough! Wouldn't surprise me.
10-11-07, 10:42 AM
#15
"Mr. Farley, currently group vice president at Toyota's U.S. sales arm and manager of the Lexus brand, will be replaced by Mark Templin, 46, a vice president in charge of the Scion brand."
Lexus commercials have been interesting, but nothing spectacular. It's pretty much a bombardment of technological features advertised in Lexus vehicles. I would like to see something with more personality and uniqueness. Compared to Scion commercials, Lexus is very simple. Even the new Tundra commercials have a kick to it.
I see potential, and I hope it goes the right direction...