Steven Armstrong is transformation officer, South America and India, effective May 1. He leads the evaluation of capital allocations to India, and the conclusion of restructuring Ford’s South America business, reporting to Ford President, Americas and International Markets Group, Kumar Galhotra.

Prior to this position, Armstrong was president, Changan Ford, responsible for leading Changan Ford’s operations, including manufacturing, marketing, selling and servicing of Ford products. He was chairman, Ford of Europe, prior to that role, and, earlier, group vice president and president, where he transformed and led Ford’s Europe, Middle East and Africa business units.  He also has served on the Ford Sollers and Ford Otosan boards of directors.

Previously, Armstrong was vice president and chief operating officer, Ford of Europe. In this position, he was responsible for many of Ford of Europe’s operations, including manufacturing, quality, product development, purchasing, sustainability, environment and safety engineering. Prior, he was president Ford South America responsible for all Ford South American operations since January 2014.

A native of the United Kingdom, Armstrong has worked in the United States, Sweden and Germany. He served as president, Ford Brazil, starting June 1, 2012, leading all aspects of Ford’s largest business unit in South America.

Armstrong also served as chief operating officer, Volvo Cars, where he oversaw the divestiture of Volvo Cars to Geely Automotive Holdings Ltd. Armstrong was responsible for major quality and cost improvements while chief operating officer of Volvo, and led the company’s development of the S60 and V60 vehicle lines.

During his more-than-25-year career, Armstrong has served in a variety of senior management and purchasing positions for Jaguar, Volvo, and Ford of Europe and served as chief operating officer of Getrag-Ford Transmissions.

He has been recognized with many awards, including being named a Eurostar by Automotive News in 2005 for improving supplier relations for Volvo.

Armstrong is based at Changan Ford’s headquarters in Chongqing, China.  He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of East London.