Jeff Nemeth, current president and CEO of Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa, will soon be heading back to the United States, with Casper Kruger set to assume the position of managing director of Ford Motor Company Sub-Saharan Africa region.

The announcement was made in a statement on Tuesday evening, with the change in leadership effective from 1 April 2017.

"Kruger will join Ford's Southern Africa leadership team and assist in overseeing Ford's business operations in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa and Southern Africa," the statement from Ford read.

Nemeth, who faced criticism for the brand's handling of the Kuga fires scandal, will "take on his new position at Ford as part of his planned return to the US on July 1, 2017," the statement continued.

Kruger is the outgoing vice president of vehicle sales and dealer network at Toyota South Africa, a position he has held from 2014, after previously heading up Toyota's Hino truck division as vice president for some five years. From 1996 to 2006, he served in several sales and marketing positions at Toyota. However, Kruger also spent two years at Ford (from 2007 to 2009), when he was national sales manager and general manager for the brand.

Ford SA says Nemeth will be "overseeing the transition period" before returning to the United States with his family in June 2017 "following the completion of his son's school year in South Africa".

"I would like to thank Jeff for his exceptional commitment to developing and growing the business over the past seven years pioneering our expansion into Sub-Saharan Africa," Jacques Brent, president of Ford Middle East and Africa, said.

"During Jeff's tenure, he led the team through the launch of the global export programme for the locally built Ford Ranger and, more recently, local production of the Everest. Both the Silverton assembly plant in Pretoria and the Struandale engine plant in Port Elizabeth were expanded with multi-billion rand investments and are running at record capacities," added Brent.

Ford says its market share in South Africa doubled during this period, "achieving record volumes and market share for the Ranger, as well as other key models such as the EcoSport".

Casper Kruger Casper Kruger comes to Ford from Toyota SA.

Original article from Car