Ex-Ford Europe boss to lead Maserati

The former head of Ford in Europe, who sued the car giant for almost €60m, is to be the new boss of Maserati.

Martin Leach, a Briton, took the action against Ford claiming the company wrongly announced he had resigned and then prevented him from working for a competitor.

Ferrari today named Leach to be the next chief executive of its luxury sports car unit Maserati.

He faces the challenge of improving the reliability of the legendary Italian brand.

Leach had been in the running last year to become chief executive of the car division of Ferrari’s parent company Fiat.

But the nomination was blocked after Ford invoked a non-compete cause to prevent him from finding another car industry job.

Last month, Ford dropped its bid to prevent Leach from finding another industry job. No other details of the settlement were revealed