Ford Pro CEO, who made commercial vehicles more profitable, to retire

By Nathan Gomes

(Reuters) -Ford Motor said on Thursday head of its highly profitable commercial vehicle business unit, Ted Cannis, would retire at the end of the month after more than 35 years with the Detroit automaker.

He led Ford Pro since its start in 2021 along with its gasoline and electric vehicle units, building it into a high-margin business. Ford's shares were down about 0.8%.

His exit comes as Ford battles quality issues and losses in its EV business, underscoring the importance of its lucrative gasoline-powered pickups and SUVs as well as the Ford Pro business.

"We do think management is under an increased amount of pressure from shareholders to deliver sustained financial improvement as it's been almost four years now since Jim Farley took over as CEO," said CFRA Research analyst Garrett Nelson.

"Ford's Q2 results were particularly disappointing and we think some investors are losing patience with the story."

Its commercial vehicle business, which CEO Jim Farley has called the automaker's "secret weapon", posted an operating profit of $2.6 billion and margins of 15% in the second quarter.

"Ted's energy and passion for customers has been instrumental in building Ford Pro into a business that's tracking towards $70 billion in revenue this year – a Fortune 100-size company in its own right," Farley said.

He said Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) - a unit which Cannis headed - was chasing an estimated $100 billion-plus profit pool for maintenance, repair, parts and other services.

"It's a surprise but there is a lot of change at Ford and it comes with the territory. A big loss in my view," said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives.

Cannis was also involved with teams that helped develop the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck.

Andrew Frick, president of the Blue unit that builds gas-powered vehicles, will lead the Pro unit in the interim as the company looks for a replacement.

Daniel Justo, Ford Blue's CFO, will be vice president for FCSD from Oct. 1 and will report to Frick.

Ford's statement did not provide any details on Cannis' future plans or his age. His LinkedIn profile showed he graduated college in 1987.

(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Sriraj Kalluvila and Arun Koyyur)