Chief of Design at Ford Suddenly Departs

We generally don’t comment on the reshuffling of corner offices at an OEM – but when the design boss at a Detroit Three automaker allegedly sends an email out of the blue saying ‘peace out’, it’s worth sitting up and taking notice.

Anthony Lo was the chief design officer at Ford, joining the company in 2021 after a stint as VP of design at Renault. Reports from the Detroit Free Press suggest he sent an email announcing his departure on Wednesday, giving less than a week’s notice before he plans to exit the Glass House.

Under his tenure, the Blue Oval was guided in creating what we now know as the current-gen S650 Mustang, a whip which didn’t move the needle enough for this author in terms of looking different from the lest-gen car but nevertheless has excellent proportions and is a stunner in the right color with the right options. Numerous concept cars and creative design studies also sprung forth under Lo, such as the Lincoln L100.

Prior to Renault, the designer also spent time at General Motors Europe and Audi in Germany. Interestingly, some talking heads in the design community have pointed out Lo remained based in France after taking the job at Ford, commuting to Detroit an unspecified number of days per month in a travel arrangement that was apparently becoming more frequent as time progressed. We’ll bet Lo’s permanent replacement will work out of Michigan – likely for political reasons as much as anything else.

As per his bio page at Ford, he is a native of Hong Kong and a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London.

[Image: Ford]

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