Jim Farley, president and chief executive officer at parent Ford Motor, in addition, will serve as president of the electric-vehicle division. Doug Field -- who in September was named to head advanced technology and embedded systems, reporting to Farley -- will lead the electric division's product creation as chief EV and digital systems officer."
The reorganization was obvious and expected. Both divisions will be headed by the Ford parent company. "Nothing interesting so far. But wait. Things are about to take an interesting turn," writes TheStreet's Luc Olinga. The electric vehicle division will be called Ford Model E.
"Does that ring a bell? Let's say it this way: doesn't it remind you of a competitor? A very noisy and powerful competitor?," Olinga adds.
Yes, it is Tesla (TSLA) - Get Tesla Inc Report we are talking about. Apart from its very first model, the Roadster, the vehicles marketed by Elon Musk's company had names taken from the alphabet until Ford showed up. Model S for the luxury sedan, and the Model X for the luxury SUV/crossover. After the Model X, Tesla wanted to introduce an entry-level vehicle to the market.
"We have the S and the X and then a friend asked me at a party 'Hey what are you going to call the third-generation car?" Musk told CNNMoney in 2014. "Well, we've got the S and the X so we might as well make it the E."
But this car would eventually be called Model 3, thus breaking with the letters. So what went wrong? When Tesla wanted to register the trademark, the firm encountered unexpected opposition: Ford. The Dearborn, Mich. automaker blocked the initiative.
"Ford gave us a call and said they're gonna sue us for using Model E. And we're like, Ford's killing SEX. I mean, that's terrible!'" Musk told CNNMoney.
To prevent Tesla from using the letter E, Jim Farley's company mentioned a 2010 agreement between the two companies according to which Tesla could not use the letter E as the name of vehicles, reported Automotive News.
Can Ford's Division Split Electrify the Stock Price?
Shares of Ford haven't escaped the vortex of volatility that’s wreaked havoc on the stock market this year. The stock is down a third from the high, which was hit on Jan. 13.
On Wednesday, though, the stock received an upside jolt. The auto giant's shares closed up 8.38% following the news it will separate its electric vehicle and gasoline car businesses.
For the bulls, it’s been a frustrating series of events. On Feb. 18, Ford stock rallied on reports it was considering a spinoff for its EV business. About a week later, the stock faded on news from the company saying that that wasn’t the case. Ford said, “We have no plans to spin off our battery electric-vehicle business or our traditional ICE business.”$Tesla Motors(TSLA)$
source:The Street
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