Ford Denies It Rejected Hagenlocker as Chairman and Chief Executive

09/24/96

Reuters reports that Ford denied a Fortune magazine report that the carmaker's board of directors decided bypass Edward Hagenlocker as its next chairman and chief executive officer. Ford also denied Fortune's claim that the carmaker will use Jacques Nasser, currently its product development chief, to replace Hagenlocker as president of Ford Automotive Operations.

On Friday, Fortune, issued a press release saying its October 14 issue will report that Ford's board asked Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alex Trotman to stay on past his 65th birthday in July 1998 and that the company was grooming 39-year-old William Clay Ford Jr. as a candidate to become the carmaker's next chairman. The press release did not identify Fortune's sources for the information.

David Scott, Ford's vice president of public affairs, said "there are a lot of people who like the sport of speculating about management succession at Ford. In fact, we're getting quite used to it. However, we're not going to comment on speculation."

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel