Introduction

Chief Executive Officer at Ford Motor Company, Jim Farley, is leading this iconic American company through a holistic transformation from a traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) auto manufacturer to a future as a leading market competitor in electric vehicle (EV) sales. Since he become president and CEO of Ford in October 2020, his focus has been on launching the customer-focused Ford+ turnaround plan to drive growth and value creation. On March 2, 2022, Farley announced that under the Ford+ plan, Ford would reorganize consumer vehicle operations into two separate business units, Ford Blue and Ford Model e (Wayland, 2022). Ford Blue will oversee the traditional operations of its ICE cars and trucks, and Ford Model e will be responsible for EV operations including the design and creation of future EV technologies like batteries, e-motors, and inverters (Wayland). This paper will explore how marketing plays a critical role in the implementation of a new business unit that is launching new products. Concepts such as incremental innovation in developing new products, organizational rearrangement to support new products, brand revitalization, growing the core product lines, competition pricing, and an analysis of price objectives are explored in this document as they relate to the implementation of the Ford+ turnaround plan announced by CEO Jim Farley, on March 2, 2022.