Jason Luo resigned this week as Key Safety Systems inches closer to finalizing a $1.59 billion deal to acquire Takata.
Ford Motor Co. named former Key Safety Systems executive Jason Luo as chairman and CEO of its China operations.
Luo will lead the carmaker’s operations in greater China and Taiwan and report to Peter Fleet, Ford’s president of the Asia Pacific region, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Ford said this week it is exploring setting up a joint venture with Chinese firm Anhui Zotye Automobile Co. to build electric vehicles in China under a new brand, after the company reported a 7 percent drop in China sales last month.
Luo resigned this week as Key Safety Systems inches closer to finalizing a $1.59 billion deal to acquire the embattled Japanese airbag supplier Takata Corp.
Key Safety Systems said personal family matters in China that require Luo’s attention triggered the move to join Ford.
Luo served as an X-factor in the bid to win Takata, according to Crain’s Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News. Luo’s family hails from Manchuria, a region in northeast China controlled by the Japanese until the end of World War II. His father spoke Japanese and worked on the Japan-owned South Manchuria Railway.
