With Ford cutting costs by eliminating its blue collar workforce via buyouts as well as pledging to cut its salaried costs (and / or employees) by 15 percent by August 1, recognizing a name in the process was bound to happen. Richard Gresenes, the chief designer of the 2009 Ford Flex, is no longer with the company, though the official story is unknown.
Sources that are neither Ford nor Gresens cited in a Detroit Free Press story allege Gresens took a voluntary dismissal, taking with him a severance package the contents of which are unknown. Since then, Ford spokesperson Charlotte Fisher confirmed Gresens is no longer with the automaker, but did not elaborate.
The Flex crossover, available with seating for 7, went on sale earlier this summer, and is a throwback to the station wagons of the past, eschewing the minivan look and associated bad karma. Built at Ford’s Oakville, Ontario, Canada plant, the crossover replaces the discontinued Ford Freestar / Mercury Monterey minivans. Recently, Ford at the last minute cancelled its third-shift at the plant which makes the Flex exclusively, which has yet to launch, angering the workers that quit their old jobs to start at the assembly line.
