Early Monday Morning reports started surfacing that Ford CEO, Mark Fields had been terminated amid tensions within the company from falling share prices, among other things. That bit of news was originally announced by Read our full review on the Ford Focus RS here.->https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2017/05/21/ford-fires-ceo-mark-fields-former-steelcase-chief-jim-hackett-to-take-over/&refURL=&referrer=#79dc053f79dc and was picked up by a number of other media outlets. Be that as it may, Ford has now sent out a press release announcing Fields’ elected retirement due to pressures from shareholders over a slumping stock price. Of course, we all know how the story really goes behind closed doors. He was probably given an ultimatum to either step down with a smiling face or be forced out. By electing to retire, he leaves the company on a positive note (if you don’t count those falling share prices) and even got a few kind words from Bill Ford himself.

“Mark Fields has been an outstanding leader and deserves a lot of credit for all he has accomplished in his many roles around the globe at Ford," Bill Ford said. “His strong leadership was critical to our North American restructuring, our turnaround at the end of the last decade, and our record profits in the past two years."

Fields is being replaced by Jim Hackett, the previous CEO of Steelcase, and interim athletic director at the University of Michigan, and executive chairman of Ford Mobility LCC since March of 2016. At 62 years old, Hacket will be responsible for “sharpening operation execution, modernizing Ford’s business, and transforming the company to meet future challenges.” In addition to this major change in Ford’s leadership, Jim Farley has been appointed as the Executive VP and President of Global Markets, Joe Hinrichs has been appointed Executive VP and President of Global Operations, and Marcy Klevorn has been appointed as the Executive VP and President of Mobility.

It’s Really Not that Unexpected

The automotive industry has been fluctuating a lot lately, and a few automakers have been feeling the burn, including Toyota, and Fiat Chrysler. With Ford shares falling as much as 40 percent under Fields’ leadership, it’s no surprise that the brand has decided to churn things a bit in hopes of pulling things together before this drop in share prices snowballs into something much, much bigger. And, the man taking his place has had a successful history in working through times of crisis.

He’s even been credited with helping to transform Steelcase into the company it is today and is responsible for bringing Jim Harbaugh to the University of Michigan to lead the Wolverines. So, it’s quite possible that he has what it takes to turn things around. But, it’s not all on him, as Ford has reshuffled things quite a bit with the aforementioned management changes and a few more. Fields has been CEO of Ford since 2014.

Will a drastic change in management be just what Ford needs, or is the brand going to hurt even more by removing Mark Fields? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Ford Focus RS

Read our full review on the Ford Focus RS here.