Bibiana Boerio, a native of Derry, Westmoreland County, is stepping down as managing director of Jaguar Cars, the British luxury vehicle, at the end of the year, Ford Motor Co. announced Tuesday.
Boerio, 53, is retiring after eight years with Jaguar, and 30 years with the Detroit-based automaker, Ford said in a statement. Boerio had served as managing director of Jaguar since July 2004.
Boerio was in Frankfurt, Germany, yesterday, where Jaguar revealed its newest model at the Frankfurt Motorshow. Boerio will not be leading Jaguar when the 2009 XF goes on sale in 2008.
"The key building blocks are in place," Boerio said yesterday at a news conference in Frankfurt. "The XF is the next big step."
Boerio, a graduate of Seton Hill University in Greensburg and the University of Pittsburgh, has been one of the senior women in Ford, as well as in European auto industry, a company spokesman has said.
Boerio's first stint at Jaguar came in 1995, when she was promoted to Jaguar's finance director, a move that laid the groundwork for her leadership at Jaguar. While in that position, Jaguar had its highest sales results in the company's history. She chaired Jaguar's women's product committee, which helped to create a Jaguar luxury car.
She returned to Ford in the U.S. in 2000, where she was the executive vice president and chief financial officer for Ford Motor Credit. She was Ford's finance and strategy director for international operations in 2003 and 2004.
The announcement of Boerio's pending retirement comes as Ford seeks to sell its money-losing unit by the end of the year or early in 2008.
The London Times last month reported the Tata Group of India, parent firm of Tata Motors, was one of the leading bidders. Another potential bidder, Mahindra & Mahindra, also is from India.
