Ford has appointed a senior BYD executive to run its European sales operations, turning to the Chinese giant that has been taking share from it for a leader to reverse the steepest regional decline among major carmakers.
Maria Grazia Davino becomes VP of Sales at Ford of Europe on October 1, the company said on Wednesday, hours after reporting second-quarter results.
She will oversee retail, the dealer network and distribution, reporting to Ford of Europe president Jim Baumbick, and will be based in Cologne.
Davino joins from BYD, where she has served as regional managing director for continental Europe since December 2024, latterly covering Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Nordic countries.
European Sales
Ford registered 192,373 new passenger cars across the European Union, EFTA countries and the United Kingdom in the first half, a decline of 15.2% from 226,954 a year earlier, according to figures published by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
Market share fell to 2.7% from 3.3%.
The contraction came as the wider market expanded.
Registrations across the same territories rose 6.1% to 7,232,066 vehicles, leaving Ford trailing the market by roughly 21 percentage points.
Within the European Union alone the gap is wider still.
Ford registrations fell 20.2% to 132,780 from 166,312, against a market up 5.7% to 5,896,683, and share slipped to 2.3% from 3.0%.
June offered only partial relief, with 35,440 registrations across the broader region, down 7.1%, and share of 2.5% against 3.1%.
The figures cover passenger cars only. Ford Pro, the commercial vehicle division, is tracked separately and remains Europe’s leading light commercial vehicle brand, a position it has held for more than a decade.
Recruited From the Competition
Davino spent more than a decade at Stellantis and its predecessor Fiat Chrysler, joining in 2013.
She was group managing director and chief executive of Stellantis UK from September 2023, having previously served as Senior VP for Sales and Marketing across the group’s Enlarged Europe region.
During that time, she led the introduction of a new retailer model, and held chief executive and managing director roles in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.
Her career began at Automobili Lamborghini in 2003.
BYD recruited her in October 2024 as part of a broader raid on Stellantis management that also brought in country managers for Italy and Spain, and followed the appointment of former Fiat Chrysler executive Alfredo Altavilla as special adviser for Europe.
What She Is Being Asked to Sell
Ford‘s European strategy rests on two pillars.
The first is Ford Pro, where the company already leads and where margins have held up better than in passenger cars.
The division generated $1.7 billion of EBIT globally in the second quarter on revenue of $17.8 billion, though earnings fell $600 million year over year on aluminium supply constraints.
The second is a passenger car product offensive, with five new models due in showrooms by 2029.
Timing works against the immediate task. Restructuring charges in Europe reached $400 million in the first half, against $100 million a year earlier, and Ford has been reducing headcount across the region.
The electric portfolio is also contracting rather than expanding.
The Model e division lost $919 million in the second quarter as wholesales fell 53% and revenue dropped to $1.0 billion, with the company attributing the decline to right-sizing Mustang Mach-E output and to the discontinuation of the F-150 Lightning.
A $30,000 midsize electric pickup on the Universal EV platform is not due until 2027, and is a North American product.
Ford has separately been pushing the Ranger Super Duty toward European defence procurement, an adjacent commercial opportunity outside the passenger market Davino will run.
Q2 Earnings
The appointment landed the same day Ford reported second-quarter adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $2.5 billion, up 17.0%, on revenue down 4.0% to $48.3 billion, and raised full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to a range of $10.0 billion to $11.0 billion from $8.5 billion to $10.5 billion.
Adjusted earnings per share of 42 cents beat the 35 cents expected by analysts polled by LSEG, while automotive revenue of $44.89 billion fell short of the $45.86 billion consensus. Shares rose about 6.9% to $15.99 in after-hours trading.
