Short History of Ford
Ford today manufactures some of the most popular and widely-sold vehicles in the world. Founded over a century ago, Ford has become the largest family-owned company in the world, and has been in the same family for more than 100 years continuously.
It was Henry Ford who in 1903, at the age of 40, launched the Ford Motor Company. Using $12,000 in cash, Henry Ford created the car firm with twelve other investors including the Dodge brothers.
At first the company, which was based at a rented factory in Detroit, Michigan, built only a few cars each day. In the early years, the cars manufactured by Ford were given a letter and Model A was built in 1903. By 1908, Model S was being replaced by Model T - a vehicle that proved popular and became a symbol of the American car industry of that era.
The first Model T Fords were produced at the company-owned factory, the Piquette Road Manufacturing plant. During 1909, 18,000 Ts were manufactured and demand grew so much that Ford had to transfer the manufacture of the Model Ts to a larger factory. In 1911, almost 70,000 Model Ts were built and over 170,000 the following year.
The year 1911 also saw the company expand internationally, following the founding of Ford of Canada in 1904, and assembly plants opened in Ireland in 1917, and England, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Argentina and France during the early 1920s. In 1913, Henry Ford had introduced the first moving assembly line which reduced chassis assembly time drastically and increased the number of cars Ford was able to build during a year to over 202,000.
By 1919, Ford was manufacturing 50% of all cars in the US and 40% of all cars in Britain.
During this same year, Henry's son Edsel Ford became president of the company. Ford continued to be efficient with engineering during the following years, keeping vehicle prices down, but neglected customer wants for better automobiles. As a result, Ford lost market share to General Motors and Chrysler as both companies offered a range of vehicles including luxury options and also different finance options to help people purchase the cars.
In 1922 Ford acquired the Lincoln Motor Company, building on its luxury range of vehicles. But it was not until 1927 that Ford introduced credit agreements for its customers so vehicles could be purchased on a pay-monthly arrangement. At the same time, Ford launched a revamped Model A and retired the Model T.
During the Great Depression, Ford suffered like many other manufacturing companies as demand for cars dropped, and a high number of staff were laid off. However, the US War Department handed over production to Ford for the B-24 Liberator planes, at the specially-built Willow Plant which opened in 1941. Putting mass production ability to use for the war effort, Ford was able to produce a B-24 every hour at the factory. The stress of this effort was too much for Edsel Ford who died in 1943 of stomach cancer, leaving his father Henry to resume control of the day-to-day running of the company.
In 1945, Henry made his oldest grandson Henry Ford II president of the firm, which became a publicly traded corporation in 1956 - although the Ford family retain about a 40% controlling interest in the company.
Henry Ford died in 1947 and over the following decades, Ford began to grow once more and re-establish its reputation as a leading car manufacturer. In the 1950s, the Thunderbird was launched and in the 1960s the Mustang.
Ford continues to enjoy vehicle success, manufacturing a wide range that includes small cars like the Fiesta and Ka, estate cars like the Mondeo, and vans like the iconic Transit.
Ford Motor Company: Driving Safely Into The Future
As one financial analyst remarked recently, if business were politics, Detroit would be the Middle East. However, in the midst of one of the worst auto depressions in history, Ford Motor Company seems to be thriving. Or, at least doing better than its competitors.
Case in point: Ford's F-150 pickup truck is currently the best-selling vehicle of any type in the United Sates, and it doesn't look like it may be in danger of losing this title any time soon. But, it's the compact, fuel-efficient cars like Ford Focus that give us a glimpse of what the future may hold for this automobile giant.
Ford Focus symbolizes the company's turnaround. This car, built on a platform that allows the auto manufacturer to produce half a dozen different cars from the same components, is designed to sell around the globe. Ford expects to sell more than a million of these vehicles this year.
The company, it seems, put the last traces of the recession in the rearview mirror. They not only avoided bankruptcy and federal bailout, but turned into the world's most profitable automaker. The transformation, however, hasn't happened overnight.
Upon taking the CEO job at Ford in 2006, Alan Mulally went on a crusade to save the Ford. Because of the economic recession, Ford Motor Company had to match its current production to the lower demand. They set about reworking some of the traditional models, and adding the new ones. The company got rid of its European car brands that were acquired under the previous leadership, and sold the customer-services operations. They focused all of their resources on the Ford brand.
All this unfortunately proved insufficient to save the company. Ford was forced to mortgage its most valuable assets - just to keep the company going, and hopefully finance the much-needed restructuring. This massive loan was taken just two years before the financial crisis hit, making credit unavailable. Thus, unlike its competitors, Ford had enough money to ride out the economic downturn. A desperate move turned out to be the right thing to do at the right time!
Today, Ford Motor is moving to integrate the company globally. Despite failing in the past, their Ford Fiesta compact is back in Japan. Both Fiesta and Fusion midsize sedan sales are growing at record rates. The second-largest of the Detroit carmakers, and one of the greatest automobile manufacturers of all time, Ford Motor Company has successfully regained its position as an American icon and is now looking to sell cars to the whole world.
Ford Goes Green in Europe
Over the next few years, Ford will be launching a number of green vehicles in Europe, as well as the United States, including hybrid and electric vehicles. This strategy builds on the Ford vision of bringing affordable fuel-efficient technology to millions of people in a variety of markets. Instead of a single vehicle or technology, Ford wants to offer a wide range of technology solutions to improve fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions for customers around the world.
Later this year, the Ford plant in Valencia, Spain will launch the newest Ford C-MAX and Grand C-MAX, which will run on the new Ford EcoBoost engine. The EcoBoost engines feature better fuel efficiency and lower emissions than conventional gasoline engines. The C-MAX has been produced for the European market since 2003, but starting in late 2011, the Valencia plant will also produce a 7-seat version of the C-MAX to be exported to the U.S. So, if you've been admiring this vehicle from afar, you'll soon be able to find one at your local Cleveland Ford dealer.
There are three types of electric vehicles that Ford will produce in the next few years, including hybrid electric, all-electric, and plug-in hybrid electric. In 2011, Ford will produce a Transit Connect Electric, which will be the first of five electrified vehicles under development as part of the global electrification strategy at Ford. This vehicle is being produced by both Ford Motor Company and Azure Dynamics, and will feature Azure's Force Drive battery electric drivetrain. It will be available in European markets, with no news yet of whether or not a version will be available in the U.S.
So what makes the Transit Connect an optimal vehicle for electrification? For starters, the Transit Connect is a commercial van, whose users often travel predictable, short routes with frequent stops in tight urban or suburban areas. This type of driving results in a negative impact on the fuel efficiency of internal combustion engines. Also, commercial drivers generally return to a central location at the end of the day, which is perfect for recharging the battery overnight. The Transit Connect will have a targeted range of up to 130 km/80 miles on a full charge, a top speed of 75 mph, and will be rechargeable using standard European outlets. A full charge is complete in 6-8 hours. The best thing about this type of vehicle? Since it runs completely on lithium-ion batteries, it won't use any fuel, and will have ZERO exhaust emissions.
In the next few years, more electric cars will be introduced to both the European and U.S. markets. In 2012, the Ford Focus Electric will become available. It will be fully electric, just like the Transit Connect, with zero emissions. The lithium-ion batteries can be charged to last for about 100 miles of driving. The Focus Electric will also feature a user-friendly interface similar to the Ford Fusion Hybrid's award-winning SmartGauge.
Some more good news about these electric cars is that it will help bring more jobs to the U.S. Azure Dynamics is a Michigan-based company, and many Ford plants in Michigan will be producing and engineering the components that run these vehicles. Starting in 2012, the Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, will assemble the battery packs that are currently being assembled in Mexico. Also in 2012, Ford's Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, will build the electric drive transaxles, adding a combined 170 jobs at the Rawsonville and Van Dyke facilities to build these key components.
Ford's Product Development team is participating in two European trials to demonstrate the technology of electric vehicles in real world driving conditions. This will allow them to generate feedback which will help to further develop both the Focus Electric and the Transit Connect Electric for market acceptance in Europe. Hopefully, such trials in the U.S. market will soon follow, as Americans are just as concerned about fuel efficiency and the environment.
Further out in 2013, we'll see two next-generation hybrid-electric vehicles, as well as a plug-in hybrid, including electric versions of the C-MAX. As the technology behind electric vehicles keeps increasing and evolving, the future of Ford vehicles keeps looking greener.