Ford Shakes Up Luxury Division

Ford Motor Co. named a senior Volvo official as executive director for North America of its Premier Automotive Group in the latest management shake-up at Ford’s key luxury car division.

Dan Werbin, chief of Volvo Cars of North America, will switch jobs with Victor Doolan, who has served as regional director of Irvine-based Premier Automotive since Ford created the division in 1999.

Premier Automotive includes Ford’s Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin and Volvo luxury brands.

Former Mazda Motor Co. President Mark Fields took over as chief of Premier Automotive this month, and a Ford source said it was safe to assume that he ordered the job swap that promoted Werbin and demoted Doolan.

Ford is counting on Premier Automotive to help it return to profitability and expects it to generate one-third of its earnings by mid-decade. The company does not break out the unit’s financial results but said for the first time last month that the division is now profitable.