Ford Truck's Pat Schiavone, who was responsible for the 2009 Ford 1-50, is making a move...to Whirlpool.
There are car guys, truck guys and, it seems, appliance guys. In a surprising move, the man credited with designing the last three generations of the Ford F-150 is leaving the automaker.
Turnover in the automotive business has been intense, lately, so the departure of Pat Schiavone is, in itself, not entirely a shock. What is unexpected is his decision to leave the automotive industry entirely. According to PickupTrucks.com, (ed: where our friend and contributor Mike Levine serves as publisher), Schiavone is on his way to the appliance maker Whirlpool.
We’re having a hard time picturing Schiavone, Ford’s North American Truck and SUV design director, sketching out washing machines and dryers. He’s spent the last 21 years at Ford, where he not only designed the 2009 F-150, but the 2002 Ford F-350 Tonka Truck and Ford F-150 Lightning Rod concepts.
Schiavone is the latest in a string of recent departures among the ranks of Ford’s senior designers. Earlier this year, Camilo Pardo, the highly-regarded designer of the Ford GT, parted ways with the automaker after 24 years. Peter Horbury, until earlier this year the executive director of Ford Americas design, announced his return to lead vehicle design at Volvo, which Ford is trying to sell.
Schiavone is expected to wrap up his duties at Ford in early 2010.
Why are so many designers leaving the automaker? There are plenty of rumors flying, some centering on the role of Ford’s capo di tutti capi among designers, London-based J Mays. Though far less visible than when he was based in Dearborn, Mays has exercised a strong hand over Ford styling.
Meanwhile, the automaker is shifting sharply away from its previous heavy emphasis on trucks — which, mid-decade, accounted for roughly two of every three vehicles the maker sold — in favor of passenger cars and crossovers, which will soon account for two-thirds of Ford’s volume. That shift may have helped convince Schiavone that the opportunities for someone at Ford Truck have become less secure.
TheDetroitBureau.com’s Publisher Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this report.