NEW YORK -- Navistar International Corp. replaced CEO Daniel Ustian with Lewis Campbell, former CEO of Textron Inc., on an interim basis, after the truckmaker's bet on a new generation of diesel engines fell short of its promise.
Navistar, which was hit so hard by the failed strategy that it has withdrawn its 2012 earnings forecast, also promoted Troy Clarke, the head of its truck and engine operations, to president and COO.
Clarke, 57, a former executive at General Motors, joined Navistar in January 2010 as senior vice president for strategic initiatives.
The suburban Chicago company did not give a reason for Ustian's departure when it announced the executive changes last week.
Ustian, who spent 37 years at Navistar, was ousted after the board lost confidence in him and his engine strategy, a person familiar with the situation said. The source was not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named.
After an independent probe, the board concluded that Ustian had made a wrong bet on a new generation of diesel engines, and that his technology solution would not work on trucks, the person said.
Campbell, who will also be Navistar's executive chairman, had been told to stabilize the company, restore relations with longtime suppliers and launch the search for a permanent chief executive, the source said.
For much of the past year, Navistar had been struggling to win approval from the U.S. EPA for a novel diesel engine technology that would cut emissions of nitrogen oxide, a pollutant linked to asthma, without using urea.
In July, Ustian reversed course and said the company would begin using urea. To do that, Navistar will begin selling trucks with Cummins engines next year.
Navistar won a temporary reprieve in early August after U.S. regulators let it continue to sell engines that do not meet emissions standards as long as it pays fines.
-- Reuters
