During Mr. Fields’s three-year tenure — a period when Ford’s shares dropped 40 percent — he came under fire from investors
and Ford’s board for failing to expand the company’s core auto business and for lagging in developing the high-tech cars of the future.
At the annual meeting on May 11, Mr. Fields said Ford was capable of staying competitive in the current market for new
vehicles, while also “keeping one foot in the future” of an industry heading toward autonomous, battery-powered cars.
The change came less than two weeks after Mr. Fields was sharply criticized during the
company’s annual shareholders meeting for Ford’s deteriorating financial results.