Ford

Ford Motor Company USA

Established

June 16, 1903; 114 years ago

Founder

Henry Ford

Headquarters

Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.

Website

www.ford.com

The Ford Motor Company also known simply as "Ford" is an American multinational automaker. Its headquartered situated in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using highly engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines; by 1914.

Ford's former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover, obtained in 1989 and 2000 respectively, were sold to Tata Motors in March 2008. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010. Based on 2015 vehicle production, Ford is the second-largest U.S.-based automaker (preceded by General Motors) and the fifth-largest in the world (behind Toyota, VW, Hyundai-Kia and General Motors). In the past, it has also produced tractors and automotive components.

History

20th century

Henry Ford's first attempt at a car company under his own name was the Henry Ford Company on November 3, 1901, which became the Cadillac Motor Company on August 22, 1902, after Ford left with the rights to his name. The Ford Motor Company was launched in a converted factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John and Horace Dodge (who would later found their own car company). During its early years, the company manufactured just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue and later its factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.

Between 1903 and 1908, Ford manufactured the Models A, B, C, F, K, N, R, and S. Hundreds or a few thousand of most of these were sold per year. In 1908, Ford launched the mass-produced Model T, which totalled millions sold over nearly 20 years. In 1927, Ford replaced the T with the Model A, the first car with safety glass in the windshield. The Ford Mustang was launched in 1964. In 1990 and 1994 respectively, Ford also obtained Jaguar Cars and Aston Martin. During the mid- to late 1990s, Ford continued to sell large numbers of vehicles, in a booming American economy with a soaring stock market and low fuel prices.

21st century

By 2005, both Ford and GM's corporate bonds had been demoted to junk status. Ford moved to launch a range of new vehicles, including "Crossover SUVs" built on unibody car platforms, rather than more body-on-frame chassis. In developing the hybrid electric powertrain technologies for the Ford Escape Hybrid SUV, Ford licensed similar Toyota hybrid technologies to avoid patent infringements. Ford sold its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors for $2.3 billion on June 2, 2008.

On January 3, 2017, Ford CEO Mark Fields announced that in a "vote of confidence" because of the pro-business climate being fostered in part by President-elect Donald Trump, Ford has cancelled plans to invest $1.6 billion in a new plant in Mexico to manufacture the Ford Focus. The Ford Focus will now be produced in the existing plant in Mexico. Instead, Fields announced that Ford will be investing $700 million in Michigan, which it plans to use to create 700 new jobs.

Operations

Ford has had manufacturing operations worldwide, including in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and South Africa.

North America

In the first five months of 2010, auto sales in the U.S. rose to 4.6 million cars and light trucks, an increase of 17% from a year earlier. Ford reported that 37% of its sales in May came from fleet sales when it announced its sales for the month increased 23%. In the first seven months of 2010, vehicle sales of Ford increased 24%, including retail and fleet sales.

Europe

At first, Ford in Germany and Ford in Britain manufactured different models from one another until the late 1960s, with the Ford Escort and then the Ford Capri being common to both companies. The fourth generation Escort was manufactured from 1990 until 2000, although its successor – the Focus – had been on sale since 1998.

Africa

In Africa, Ford's market presence has been strongest in South Africa and neighbouring countries, with only trucks being sold elsewhere on the continent. Ford in South Africa began by importing kits from Canada to be assembled at its Port Elizabeth facility. Later Ford sourced its models from the UK and Australia, with local versions of the Ford Cortina including the XR6, with a 3.0 V6 engine, and a Cortina-based 'bakkie' or pick-up, which was exported to the UK.

Former operations

Ford of Japan

In February 1925, Ford established a manufacturing facility in the port city of Yokohama, where Model T vehicles were assembled using imported knock-down kits. The factory subsequently manufactured 10,000 Model A's up to 1936. Production ended in 1940 as a result of political tensions between Japan and the United States. Ford did sell a small range of vehicles in Japan; as of October 2010, the Ford Mustang, Escape, Explorer (and Explorer truck), Ford Kuga, Lincoln Navigator, Lincoln MKX, and more recently, the Ford Ecosport were available in Japan.

Oceania

In Australia and New Zealand, the popular Ford Falcon (1960–2016) had long been considered the average family car and is considerably larger than the Mondeo, Ford's largest car sold in Europe. Between 1960 and 1972, the Falcon was based on a U.S. model of the same name, but since then has been entirely designed and manufactured in Australia until 2016, occasionally being manufactured in New Zealand.

Products and services

Automobiles

Ford Motor Company sells a broad range of automobiles under the Ford marque worldwide, and an additional range of luxury automobiles under the Lincoln marque in the United States. The company has sold vehicles under a number of other marques during its history. The Mercury brand was launched by Ford in 1939, continuing in production until 2011 when poor sales led to its discontinuation.

Trucks

Ford has manufactured trucks since 1908, beginning with the Ford Model TT, followed by the Model AA, and the Model BB. Countries where Ford commercial vehicles are or were formerly manufactured include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Philippines, Spain, Turkey, UK and USA. From the 1940s to late 1970s, Ford's Ford F-Series were used as the base for light trucks for the North American market.

Buses

Ford produced complete buses in the company's early history, but today the role of the company has changed to that of a second stage manufacturer. In the 1980s and 1990s, the medium-duty B700 was a popular chassis used by school bus body manufacturers including Thomas Built, Ward, and Blue Bird, but Ford lost its market share due to industry contraction and agreements between body manufacturers.

Tractors

The "Henry Ford and Son Company" began making Fordson tractors in Henry's hometown of Springwells (later part of Dearborn), Michigan from 1907 to 1928, from 1919 to 1932, at Cork, Ireland, and 1933–1964 at Dagenham, England, later transferred to Basildon. In 1986, Ford expanded its tractor business when it purchased the Sperry-New Holland skid-steer loader and hay baler, hay tools and implement company from Sperry Corporation and formed Ford-New Holland which bought out Versatile tractors in 1988.