Richard Parry-Jones, former group Vice-President-Global product Development, chief technical officer and Head of global R&D Operations at Ford, has died at the age of 69.
Born in Bangor, North Wales, RPJ, as he became known, joined Ford as an undergraduate trainee in 1969, going on to earn a first-class honours degree in mechanical engineering from Salford University.
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From the mid-nineties, Parry-Jones led the development teams responsible for some of the greatest automobiles in Ford’s history, including the original Ford Mondeo and Focus, the Ka and the Puma. Parry-Jones’ focus on a car’s dynamics won an army of fans from enthusiasts to automobile buyers, lifting Ford’s credibility for building terrific driving automobiles to a new level that still stands true today.
Parry-Jones’ influence extended to models from Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin, while they were part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group. His success at Ford led to rival automobile makers having to up their game to compete, while it’s rumoured that Volkswagen boss Ferdinand Piëch tried to poach Parry-Jones to head up the German company’s development teams.
On retiring from Ford in 2007 after 38 years, Parry-Jones worked at government level chairing the Automotive development and growth team and then the UK Automotive Council. In 2012 he became chairman of Network Rail, a position he kept for three years.
