Former Samcor boss Lewis Booth will take over as president of Mazda from Mark Fields.
Former Samcor boss Lewis Booth will take over as president of Mazda from Mark Fields. It was announced on Friday that Fields will replace Wolfgang Reitzle as head of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group. The group includes Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Aston Martin. Lincoln has been moved out of the division.
Booth is the current head of Ford’s Asia Pacific and Africa operations. He was previously Group Managing Director of the South African Motor Corporation (Samcor), a position he held from July 1997 until the end of 1999. Booth started out with Ford in 1978 as a financial analysis coordinator with Product Development, Ford of Europe.
Booth joined Mazda earlier this year as Senior Advisor in charge of corporate strategy.
Fields will conduct a two-month handover and then step down after nearly four years with Mazda. The Mazda management change will be subject to approval at the annual shareholder meeting in June and will be effective thereafter.
Booth will work closely alongside Fields as part of the management team to ensure a smooth transition of the presidency and the continuity of Mazda’s business strategy.
Mazda Chairman Kazuhide Watanabe said “Lewis Booth has an extensive and truly global track record in the auto industry. His experience spans all major car markets and ranges from R&D through manufacturing and strategic business planning.
“Once in the post, he will continue and build on Mazda’s exciting momentum – through our Millennium Plan we are delivering a financial recovery and we are just starting to deliver a new generation of products that will reposition our company in the market place.”
