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Fields 'required' to use private aircraft, could make $5.25M as Ford CEO this year

Mark Fields' travels on the friendly skies will soon be a relatively personal affair, as the new CEO at Ford will be required to resume air travel via the company's private planes. Fields caught plenty of flak in 2007 for flying on the company's dime to visit his family in Florida. He's since flown commercial.
According to Ford spokesperson Susan Krusel, who spoke to Bloomberg, Fields (pictured above right, with Bill Ford, Jr. at center and Alan Mulally at left) will switch to private travel "for safety and to maximize his availability for company business." In addition to his new travel arrangements, the 53-year-old exec's salary and bonuses have been revealed.
Regulatory filings by Ford revealed that Fields, whose first day in the big chair was July 1, will receive a base salary this year of $1.25 million and he'll be eligible for $3.5 million in bonuses, both of which are lower than Alan Mulally's $2 million salary and $5.88 million in bonuses received last year. That's also lower than General Motors CEO Mary Barra's alleged $1.6-million salary and considerably less than Sergio Marchionne's $3.19-million fixed salary from Fiat. Despite falling short of other CEOs, Fields' new pay still represents a 33-percent increase over his pay as Chief Operating Officer.

New Ford Escape spied inside and out

For the 2016 model year, the Ford Escape receives the Blue Oval's latest Sync 3 infotainment system and some minor tweaks to the color and trim options. Based on these new spy shots, it would appear that the crossover is due for some much bigger changes not too far into the future, as well. The thorough refresh isn't just an exterior styling update, either. Ford's designers are giving the future Escape a front end that's a bit more in the style of the latest Edge, at least based on these shots. Peek behind the mesh obscuring the grille, and the styling there now appears to have a hexagonal shape with horizontal slats and a smaller, lower intake. At the same time, the headlights are narrower and come to a sharper point as they wrap around the fender. The heavy camouflage makes the changes at the back harder to spot, although the taillights seem subtly tweaked with a similar overall shape but a clear stripe cutting through the center. The Escape also seems to be receiving a completely different center stack inside, but the area is still well concealed. The gearshift moves down between the seats, and that allows physical controls for the radio and HVAC to take that real estate. It's possible that the infotainment screen might pop up from the mesh-covered area you can see at the top of the interior photos. Take a look through the gallery for some detailed shots of Ford's camouflaged crossover.

Ford F-35 Lightning II Edition Mustang appears at EAA Oshkosh

Ford is back at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, WI, on July 31 auctioning off its seventh Mustang for charity, and this is one seriously mean looking 2015 'Stang. All of the money from the sale goes to give free introductory flights to young people to get them interested in aviation.
We recently saw this latest EAA Mustang as a sketch. However, it looks a whole lot more menacing in person. Dubbed the Ford F-35 Lightning II Edition Mustang, it takes liberal inspiration from Lockheed Martin's latest fighter jet, and the customization makes the pony car look ready for a role in Top Gun.
On the outside, the special Mustang wears titanium-color paint that's offset by a black and yellow stripe running from hood to rear. Out back things get really wild with a mix of bright yellow and black that flows diagonally all the way to the rear spoiler. The design is based on the livery of early production F-35s. If the rousing color scheme isn't enough to get you interested, the car also gets a carbon fiber front splitter and rear diffuser, lowered suspension and a set of custom 21-inch wheels with yellow brake calipers.