Ford Motor Company has named James Hackett as chief executive officer, responding to investors' growing unease about the automaker's stock price and prospects.
Mr Hackett currently heads Ford's unit developing self-driving cars.
The 62-year-old, a former CEO of furniture manufacturer Steelcase Inc, will take the helm in a broader shake-up aimed at speeding up decision-making and improving operations.
He replaces Mark Fields who spent less than three years as CEO.
Ford shares were up 1.7% at $11.06 in morning trading.
At Friday's close, they had fallen 37% since Fields took over three years ago, at the peak of the US autoindustry's recovery.
The company's profits are trailing those of larger rival General Motors, whose shares fell 13% over the same period, and Ford's market capitalization has fallen behind that of electric car maker Tesla.
Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. and the board have been unhappy with the company's performance and sought reassurance that investments in self-driving cars, electric vehicles and ride services would pay off.
The Ford family controls the automaker through a special class of voting rights stock.
Ford Jr. told reporters at a news conference that the company needs to make decisions faster.
"We have to modernize the business" and move "decisively to address underperforming areas," he said.
Hackett, a former football player at the University of Michigan and interim athletic director, was named chairman of the Ford Smart Mobility subsidiary in 2016 to focus on emerging businesses that include ridesharing and autonomous vehicles.
Ford said in February it was investing $1 billion in artificial intelligence company Argo AI to develop a virtual driver system for the automakers autonomous vehicle coming in 2021.
