Richard Parry-Jones

On october 20, 2022, Ford Motor Company announced that a building used for the improvement of driving dynamics on Ford’s Lommel Proving Ground in Belgium will from now on be known as the Richard Parry-Jones Appraisal Center, in honour of the company’s renowned engineering leader.

Richard Parry-Jones CBE FREng (September 1951 – 16 April 2021) was a British engineer. He was the Group Vice-President of Global Product Development, Chief Technical Officer, and Head of Global R&D Operations at Ford Motor Company. He retired in December 2007.

In 2021, Autocar gave him a Lifetime Achievement award for his services to the automotive industry, informing him of it just two weeks before his death, which occurred in an accident involving a tractor on private land near Barmouth in Wales. Ford executive chairman Bill Ford described Mr Parry-Jones as a "rare talent who left an indelible mark on Ford and the industry"..

In July 2012, Parry-Jones became the chairman of Network Rail, a position he retained for nearly three years. He was non-executive chairman of Kelda Group, non-executive director of GKN plc and Cosworth Group Holdings and a council member of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and Bangor University.

In 2005 Parry-Jones received an Honorary Fellowship by his 'home' University of Wales in the North Wales town.

In 2004 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in recognition of his pioneering work in the application of statistical methods to automobile engineering. He was appointed a CBE in the 2005 New Year Honours for services to the automobile industry.

In 2001, he received the Golden Gear Award for Outstanding Automotive Achievement from the Washington Automotive Press Association, and was honoured as Marketing Statesman of the Year by the Sales and Marketing Executives of Detroit.

Parry-Jones has embraced environmental initiatives. In a 2000 speech to the Society of Automotive Engineers at The Greenbrier, Parry-Jones said, "What our society wants us to do is to invent the technology to make personal, private transportation sustainable. People expect engineers to do the right thing. It's as if we had taken some kind of Hippocratic oath. And our profession has been around nearly as long as medicine itself."

In 1995 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Loughborough University in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the motor industry and engineering education. He was also a Visiting Professor and Fellow at the university.

Parry-Jones was named Man of the Year in 1994 by the British publication Autocar and in 1997 by Automobile Magazine.

Parry-Jones directed the concurrent development of dozens of vehicles at Ford and significantly influenced vehicles including the 1993 Ford Mondeo, both the 1998 International Ford Focus and 2000 North American Ford Focus, the European 1981 Escort and 1983 Sierra, as well as the Ka, Fiesta, Puma, Cougar, and Galaxy.

Fluent in English and German, Parry-Jones's international experience includes an assignment as Director of Vehicle Concepts Engineering in the United States in 1988, before taking charge of Manufacturing Operations at Ford's Cologne, Germany, assembly plant in 1990. He retired from Ford in 2007, after 38 years with the company.

Parry-Jones joined Ford product development in 1969 as an undergraduate trainee, and was awarded a first class honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from Salford University, Manchester in 1973. He was appointed Manager of Small Car Programs in 1982 and was named Executive Engineer of Ford's Technological Research in Europe in 1985, before adding responsibility for Vehicle Concepts a year later.