Ford Names President for Lincoln Brand

Ford Motor Co. has named Kumar Galhotra, currently vice president of engineering, to the newly created post of president of Lincoln, effective Sept. 1.

Galhotra will report directly to CEO Mark Fields. His mission will be to lead Lincoln's fledging relaunch as a premium brand, including the marque's expansion into China.

He will oversee development of next-generation models and Lincoln's marketing efforts to lure a new generation of customers. Fields notes that Galhotra has some 25 years of global product experience and already heads product engineering for all current Lincoln models.

Succeeding Galhotra with the updated title of vice president of vehicle component and systems engineering will be Jim Holland. The 30-year Ford veteran currently is engineering director for Asia Pacific. Holland was chief engineer for the Ford Explorer SUV introduced in 2010.