APRIL 19, 2002
Who is Mark Fields?
Wolfgang Reitzle's replacement as head of Ford's Premier Automotive Group is 41-year-old American Mark Fields, who has been working at Mazda in Japan since 1998 and became its president in December 1999 when Jac Nasser took over at the top of the Ford Motor Company.
Fields is expected to be replaced at Mazda by Lewis Booth who until recently was in charge of Ford's activities in the Asia Pacific and African regions.
Ford has confirmed that PAG has given up control of the Lincoln and Mercury brands and will now concentrate on Jaguar, Aston Martin, Volvo and Land Rover.
Mazda has not had much involvement in motor racing in recent years but in 1991 became the first Japanese company to win the Le Mans 24 Hours.