Ford Motor Co., the second-biggest U.S. automaker, named a new U.S. sales chief whose challenge will be to maintain a sales lead over Toyota Motor Corp. and its growing willingness to discount cars such as the Camry.

Ken Czubay, 64, the current U.S. sales chief, is retiring, effective Nov. 1. He will be replaced by John Felice, 51, the Dearborn, Michigan-based company said in a statement. Ford also named Barb Samardzich, 54, chief operating officer in Europe, where she now heads product development.

Demand for F-Series pickups, the new Fusion family car and Escape sport utility vehicle has paced Ford as it’s gained more market share than any other major automaker in the U.S. this year. New models that analysts expect for 2014 will be crucial to maintaining those gains after Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has outsold Ford in the U.S. the past two months and vowed to protect its Camry sedan with heftier incentives.

“Ford has two huge new products coming next year: the Mustang and the F-150,” Alan Baum, an independent auto analyst in West Bloomfield, Michigan, said by telephone. “They obviously want to keep their momentum going. They’re also going to have more Fusions, and that will be a marketing challenge to keep the transaction prices high as volume goes up.”

Ford captured 16 percent of U.S. light-vehicle deliveries through August, up from 15.6 percent a year earlier. While Toyota’s market share was little changed at 14.4 percent, the Toyota City, Japan-based company outsold Ford by 314 cars and light trucks in July and more than 11,000 in August. (Bloomberg)