Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American automobile company that builds cars under its own name Ford and Lincoln. Ford cars are sold worldwide. In 2010 the group was the fifth largest car manufacturer in the world.

Activities

Ford is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. In 2017, the company had 202,000 employees and 61 factories, 31 of which in the United States and 16 in Europe. The cars are sold worldwide under the Ford and Lincoln brand names. The company has its own financing department for customers who want to buy cars with a loan. Ford has around 11,500 dealers for sales, 10,400 of which only sell Ford vehicles and the remaining 1100 sell Ford and Lincoln cars or only Lincoln passenger cars.

In 2017, Ford sold 6.6 million vehicles, of which 2.6 million in the US home market. In Europe, United Kingdom and Germany are the main markets for Ford. The second market is the People's Republic of China with 1.2 million vehicles, this is also a fast-growing market, in 2012 0.6 million vehicles were sold. Ford cooperates with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. in a joint venture Changan Ford Automobile Corporation. This 50/50 joint venture has three factories with a production capacity of 1 million vehicles per year.

Every year the company spends around 5% of total revenue on the development of new models and production techniques.

Results

Ford has a worldwide market share of around 7%, in the US home market this is about twice as high. More than 6 million vehicles are sold each year. Turnover is mainly realized through the sale of cars and to a small extent through the financing activities. The results fluctuate sharply, until 2009 Ford suffered a loss, which peaked in 2008 due to the effects of the credit crisis. From 2009 it will be better financially. The very high profit in 2011 was partly the result of a very large tax windfall. North America is the most important market and almost all of Ford's profits are achieved here.

The beginning

On June 16, 1903, Henry Ford and eleven investors in Michigan founded the Ford Motor Company with a starting capital of US $28,000. Henry Ford exchanged the plans for his car and the 17 patents for 255 shares and became chief engineer and vice-chairman. Car production began in a converted wagon factory in Detroit with 10 employees, who produced a few copies per year. The first model was the Ford Model A, which cost $750. Ford focused on cars for the common man at affordable prices. Ford also introduced the option to add extras at additional prices. For example, he offered an optional leather roof for US $50. On August 17, 1904, Ford opened its first foreign branch. Ford Motor Company of Canada began producing in 1905 in a small new plant in Walkerville, Ontario.

New brands

In 1985, Ford launched the new Merkur brand in a new attempt to sell European models on the American market. That had already been tried in the 1970s and succeeded with the Ford Capri. The word Merkur is the German word for Mercury and the cars were assembled by Ford of Europe in Germany. The brand has only sold two models in North America: the Merkur XR4Ti, in Europe the Ford Sierra and the Merkur Scorpio (Ford Scorpio). Both models were very successful on the European market but were poorly sold in America. Merkur was stopped again in 1989. There are several reasons for the failure: the name that is difficult to pronounce, the advertisers insisted on using the correct German pronunciation mark - the unusual design of the cars in America and the exchange rate fluctuations between Germany and the US.

The Way Forward

Ford was not doing well financially in the early 21st century. It was therefore decided to reorganize, called Bold Moves (Grote Steps). This reorganization was called, The Way Forward. The objective of this reorganization was to reduce fixed costs. As a result, many factories were closed and tens of thousands of jobs were lost. This program was accelerated from 2008 due to the credit crisis. In 2011, Ford therefore only consists of the Ford and Lincoln brands. All other brands were sold (Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo), discontinued (Mercury) or the stake was scaled back (Mazda). As of November 2010, Ford only has 3% of the shares in Mazda.

Milestones

• June 16, 1903: Establishment of Ford Motor Company.
• July 20, 1903: Sale of the first car, a Ford Model A, in Detroit.
• August 17, 1904: Opening of the first foreign factory in Canada.
• October 22, 1906: Henry Ford becomes director and majority shareholder.
• 1906: Ford becomes the largest car manufacturer in the United States.
• October 1, 1908: Introduction of the legendary Ford Model T.
• 1911: Opening of the first overseas factory in Manchester (United Kingdom).
• October 7, 1913: Ford introduces the assembly line.
• December 10, 1915: Construction of the 1 millionth Ford.
• July 27, 1917: Introduction of Ford's first truck, the Ford Model TT.
• January 1, 1919: Henry Ford's son, Edsel Ford, becomes director.
• 1921: Construction of the 5 millionth Ford.
• 1922: Takeover of Lincoln Motor Company.
• 1923: The first car assembly line in Africa is started in Port Elizabeth (South Africa) for the construction of Model Ts.
• 1923: Construction of the 10 millionth Ford.
• March 6, 1924: Establishment of the Ford Motor Company of Holland.
• 1925: Establishment of Ford Germany.
• May 26, 1927: Henry and Edsel Ford ride the last Model T of the assembly line in Highland Park.
• December 31, 1927: The very last Model T comes from the band in the United Kingdom.
• 1933: Ford drops to third place in the US, after General Motors and Chrysler.
• 1937: Construction of the 25 millionth Ford.
• 1939: Ford establishes the Mercury brand.
• March 1, 1941 - June 28, 1945: War production for the US Army.
• April 7, 1947: Founder Henry Ford dies.
• 1950: Ford beats Chrysler as the second car manufacturer in the US.
• January 17, 1956: Ford shares appear on the stock exchange.
• 1955: the legendary thunderbird came on the market.
• 1958-1960: Start and end of the new Edsel brand.
• 1959: Construction of the 50 millionth car.
• 1964: Introduction of the legendary Ford Mustang.
• 1967: The European Ford divisions go together in Ford Europe.
• 1978: Construction of the 150 millionth car.
• 1979: Ford takes a 25% stake in Mazda.
• 1981: The Ford Netherlands assembly plant in Amsterdam is closed.
• 1985-1989: Start and end of the new Merkur brand.
• 7 September 1987: Ford takes over 75% of Aston Martin.
• December 30, 1987: Takeover of The Hertz Corporation, a car rental company.
• 1988: Ford makes US$5.3 billion profit, a record in the automotive industry until 1999.
• December 1, 1989: Ford takes over Jaguar Cars.
• 1989-1994: Ford Australia produces the Mercuri Capri.
• May 16, 1996: Ford's stake in Mazda rises to 33.4%.
• January 1, 1996: Ford sells agricultural shares to Fiatagri, which continues under the name New Holland.
• 1996: Construction of the 250 millionth car.
• 1997: Sale of the heavy trucks department to Freightliner.
• March 1, 1999: Takeover of Volvo.
• March 19, 1999: Creation of the Premier Auto Group that includes the British brands and Lincoln. Volvo is added later and Lincoln is going out again in 2002.
• 1999: Ford records a profit of US$7.2 billion, breaking its own record from 1988.
• 30 June 2000: Takeover of Land Rover from BMW.
• 2003: Ford celebrates its 100th birthday.
• 2005: Ford's market share drops to 17.4% for the tenth year in a row and the position of best-selling brand in the US is lost to Chevrolet.
• January 23, 2006: Ford announces the restructuring plan The Way Forward. 14 American factories and 30,000 jobs are on the way.
• 2006: Ford buys the Rover brand name from BMW.
• March 12, 2007: Ford announces at a press conference that Aston Martin will be sold to a consortium of investors led by British manager Dave Richards.
• December 20, 2007: Ford announces that Jaguar and Land Rover will be sold to Tata for £ 1 billion, around € 1.5 billion (18/04/2008).
• 2009: Ford makes net profit again for the first time in years.
• August 2, 2010: Sale of Volvo to Geely is effected. Geely paid US$1.8 billion for Volvo Cars.
• November 18, 2010: Ford reduces its share in Mazda to 3%.
• January 4, 2011: The last Mercury Grand Marquis rolls off the line and with that the Mercury brand comes to an end.
• October 24, 2012: It is decided to close the doors of Ford Genk in 2014. This is the day of its 50th anniversary.