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The new unit, Ford Smart Mobility LLC, could invest in
transportation services companies, but it is not solely a venture
fund, Ford CEO Mark Fields said in an interview on Friday. “Their
remit is to design, build, grow, and in some cases invest in, new
mobility services,” he said.
Ford’s move comes amid a flurry of maneuvers by big automakers and
automotive suppliers to buy or build the capability to sell
transportation services, profit from high-speed digital connections
to vehicles and engineer vehicles that drive themselves.
Fields didn’t disclose how much capital the subsidiary will have.
“We want to be a leader and we will dedicate the appropriate
capital,” Fields said.
Rival General Motors Co <GM.N> in July 2010 established a venture
fund to invest in emerging automotive technology and seeded with
$100 million.
Jim Hackett, currently a member of Ford's board, will leave the
board to become chairman of Ford Smart Mobility LLC, Ford said. As
CEO of Steelcase <SCS.N> from 1994 to 2013, Hackett led a sweeping
overhaul of the office furniture company, and forged ties to many
Silicon Valley companies that bought its products for their offices.
Hackett has “a tremendous network in Silicon Valley,” Fields told
Reuters. Hackett will be looking for a CEO with a background in the
technology industry, Fields said.
GM said Friday it is buying a small San Francisco company, Cruise
Automation, that develops self-driving car technology.
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Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr. has been pushing executives at the
Dearborn, Michigan, company for years to take seriously the
challenge to the auto industry's traditional approach of
concentrating on selling vehicles to owner drivers, and largely
ignoring the revenue flowing toward transportation services.
“I knew seven, eight years ago that our industry was going to change
and change dramatically,” Ford said at an appearance in Detroit last
July. He launched an independent venture capital fund, Fontinalis
Partners, that invests in transportation services, or mobility,
ventures.
(Additional reporting by Paul Lienert; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
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