Ford moves executive to Land Rover

Ford is tightening its grip on Land Rover by moving another member of its own senior management team into the subsidiary, which was acquired from BMW three months ago.

Tom Pallister, a former marketing director of Ford Great Britain, is to join Land Rover as global after-sales director. He will report to Bob Dover, Land Rover’s chairman and chief executive. Dover formerly headed Aston Martin, also owned by Ford.

Moving from his role as customer services division director, Pallister will work alongside Matthew Taylor, sales and marketing director. Taylor himself was drafted from a similar position at Ford in Australia (MW June 1).

Pallister was appointed as marketing director of Ford Great Britain in 1993. He moved to head customer service in 1997. He will be replaced by Simon Psaila, who is returning to the UK after working for Ford in South America.

Ford bought Land Rover at the end of May for &£1.9bn after BMW was forced to sell it in order to cover costs incurred by the disposal of Rover.

Land Rover is understood to be considering moving its &£8.4m advertising business from WCRS to J Walter Thompson, which already handles most of Ford’s other luxury marques, including Jaguar.