About Ford

The Ford Motor Company is an American automotive group that builds cars under its own name Ford and Lincoln. Ford cars are sold worldwide. In 2017, the group was the fifth largest car manufacturer in the world.

Activities

Ford is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. In 2019, the company had 190,000 employees and 55 factories and eight research and development sites. 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 over 10,900 dealers for sales, 10,000 of which only sell Ford vehicles and the remaining 1,000 sell Ford and Lincoln cars or only Lincoln passenger cars.

In 2019, Ford sold 5.4 million vehicles, 2.4 million of which in the U.S. home market. In Europe, the United Kingdom and Germany are the main markets for Ford. The second market is the People’s Republic of China with 0.5 million vehicles, a sharp decline compared to 2017 when 1.2 million vehicles were still sold. Here Ford collaborates with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. in the joint venture Changan Ford Automobile Corporation. This 50/50 joint venture has five assembly plants with a production capacity of 1 million vehicles per year, as well as a factory for engines and one for gearboxes.

Each year, the company spends about 5% of its total turnover on the development of new models and production techniques.

Ford’s Marketshare

Ford has a worldwide market share of between 6% and 7%, which is about twice as high in the US home market. Turnover is mainly generated by car sales and to a small extent by financing activities. The results fluctuate strongly, until 2009 Ford suffered a loss, which peaked in 2008 due to the effects of the credit crisis. From 2009, things are going 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.

History of Ford

Henry Ford was born in 1863. He became fascinated with machines when he learned to work with a stationary steam engine. After several jobs in that sector, he became an engineer at the Edison Illuminating Company in 1891. Two years later, he was promoted to chief engineer there. Ford began experimenting with gasoline engines and had a single-cylinder engine running in late 1893. Henry demonstrated that engine to his wife Clara on the kitchen counter. On June 4, 1896, he completed his own quadricycle, after which he immediately made the first night test drive.

In 1899, Ford and other investors founded the Detroit Automobile Company. The company went bankrupt as early as 1900 after a small car production. A year later, a restart with Henry Ford took the helm. He renamed the company the Henry Ford Company. The company went bankrupt three months later, leaving Ford and several other partners. After a new restart, that company would eventually become Cadillac.

Current North American Ford Models

• Ford E-Series Wagon
• Ford Edge
• Ford EcoSport
• Ford Escape
• Ford Expedition
• Ford Explorer
• Ford F-150
• Ford F-250, also called Super Duty
• Ford Fiesta
• Ford Flex
• Ford Focus
• Ford Fusion
• Ford Mustang
• Ford Taurus
• Ford Transit Connect
• Ford Transit