Ford has appointed Jim Farley as the new head for Europe, Middle East and Africa. He will take over this role from Stephen Odell, who will instead take up Farley’s role as head of global sales and marketing for Ford.

Odell has taken the lead role in turning around Ford Europe’s fortunes in recent years. He has significantly reduced the losses made by the division. However, Ford was expected to return profit in Europe in 2015, but this expectation was downgraded in September this year. This is the first prominent shuffle after Mark Fields took over from Alan Mulally as chief executive officer earlier this year. 

“I’m really excited by the challenge, and our respective experience within Ford should make it a relatively seamless transition,” said Odell. “We are looking to accelerate Ford’s sales growth in every way we can, and this swap is part of that."

Farley has had experience with Toyota and Lexus prior to joining Ford in 2007.