Everything about Ford Motors totally explained
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“Ford” redirects here. For the 38th President of the United States see Gerald Ford. For other uses, see Ford (disambiguation).
Ford Motor Company is an
American multinational corporation and the world's
third largest automaker based on
worldwide vehicle sales. Based in
Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of
Detroit, the automaker was founded by
Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. Ford's overseas business encompasses only one truly global brand (
Volvo of
Sweden) other than the Ford brand itself, but it also owns a one-third
controlling interest in
Mazda of
Japan and a small holding in former subsidiary
Aston Martin of
England. Its former UK subsidiaries
Jaguar and
Land Rover were sold to
Tata Motors of
India in March 2008, both companies having been through many changes of ownership in the recent past.
Lincoln and
Mercury are also Ford's aspirational brands in the USA, but not in the rest of the world. Ford also sold the brand names of Daimler (excluding certain rights sold to Germany's Daimler AG), Lanchester, and Rover to Tata Motors of India.
In 2007, Ford became the third-ranked automaker in US sales after
General Motors and
Toyota, falling from the second-ranked automaker slot for the first time in the previous 56 years. Ford was also the overall seventh-ranked American-based company in the 2007
Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2006 of $160.1 billion. In 2007, Ford revenues increased to $173.9 billion, while producing 6.553 million automobiles and employing about 245,000 employees at around 100 plants and facilities worldwide. and fourteen vehicles ranked in the top three.
Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce, using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving
assembly lines.
Henry Ford's methods came to be known around the world as
Fordism by 1914.
History
Ford 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 the
their own car company). During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue in
Detroit,
Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. Henry Ford was 40 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, as well as being one to survive the
Great Depression. As one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.
In
2005, Ford Motor Company was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President
George W. Bush.
Corporate governance
Members of the board as of early 2007 are: Chief Sir John Bond,
Richard Manoogian, Stephen Butler, Ellen Marram,
Kimberly Casiano,
Alan Mulally (President and CEO),
Edsel Ford II, Homer Neal, William Clay Ford Jr.,
Jorma Ollila, Irvine Hockaday Jr.,
John L. Thornton and
William Clay Ford (Director Emeritus).
The main corporate officers are:
Lewis Booth (Executive Vice President,
Chairman (
PAG) and Ford of Europe),
Mark Fields (Executive Vice President, President of
The Americas),
Donat Leclair (Executive Vice President and
CFO), Mark A. Schulz (Executive Vice President, President of International Operations) and Michael E. Bannister (Group Vice President; Chairman & CEO Ford Motor Credit).
By 2005, corporate bond rating agencies had downgraded the bonds of both Ford and
GM to junk status, citing high U.S. health care costs for an aging workforce, soaring gasoline prices, eroding market share, and dependence on declining SUV sales for revenues. Profit margins decreased on large vehicles due to increased "incentives" (in the form of rebates or low interest financing) to offset declining demand.
In the face of falling truck and SUV sales, Ford moved to introduce a range of new vehicles, including "
Crossover SUVs" built on
unibody car platforms, rather than body-on-frame truck chassis. Ford also developed alternative fuel and high efficiency vehicles, such as the
Escape Hybrid..
Ford announced that it'll team up with
Southern California Edison (SCE) to examine the future of
plug-in hybrids in terms of how home and vehicle energy systems will work with the electrical grid. Under the multi-million-dollar, multi-year project, Ford will convert a demonstration fleet of
Ford Escape Hybrids into plug-in hybrids, and SCE will evaluate how the vehicles might interact with the home and the utility's electrical grid. Some of the vehicles will be evaluated "in typical customer settings," according to Ford.
In December 2006, the company raised its borrowing capacity to about $25 billion, placing substantially all corporate assets as collateral to secure the line of credit . Chairman Bill Ford has stated that "bankruptcy isn't an option" . In order to control its skyrocketing labor costs (the most expensive in the world), the company and the
United Auto Workers, representing approximately 46,000 hourly workers in North America, agreed to a historic contract settlement in November of 2007 giving the company a substantial break in terms of its ongoing retiree health care costs and other economic issues. The agreement includes the establishment of a company-funded, independently-run
Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (more commonly known as a VEBA) trust to shift the burden of retiree health care off of the company's books, thereby improving its balance sheet. However, this arrangement won't begin to take effect until
January 1,
2010. The agreement also gives hourly workers the job security they were seeking by having the company commit to substantial investments in most of its factories.
The automaker reported the largest annual loss in company history in 2006 of $12.7 billion, and estimated that it wouldn't return to profitability until 2009. However, Ford surprised
Wall Street in the second quarter of 2007 by posting a $750 million profit. Despite the gains, the company finished the year with a $2.7 billion loss, largely attributed to finance restructuring at
Volvo.
In March 2008, Ford announced that it has reached agreement to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to
Tata Motors for $2.3 billion. The sale is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2008. It is understood that Ford Motor Company Ltd. won't retain any shareholding in either the Jaguar or Land-Rover companies, unlike Aston Martin where on its sale a small shareholding was retained; when the total sum to be paid in cash by Tata Motors of approximately US$2.3 billion, Ford will then contribute up to US $600 million to the Jaguar Land Rover pension plans.
In January of 2008, Ford launched a website listing the 10 Built Ford Tough Rules as well as a series of webisodes that parodies the show
COPS (TV Series).
"The Way Forward"
In the latter half of 2005, Chairman Bill Ford asked newly-appointed Ford Americas Division President
Mark Fields to develop a plan to return the company to profitability. Fields previewed the Plan, dubbed
The Way Forward, at the
December 7,
2005 board meeting of the company; and it was unveiled to the public on
January 23,
2006. "
The Way Forward
" includes
resizing the company to match current market realities, dropping some unprofitable and inefficient models, consolidating production lines, and shutting fourteen factories and cutting 30,000 jobs. .
These cutbacks are consistent with Ford's roughly 25% decline in U.S. automotive market share since the mid-late 1990s. Ford's target is to become profitable again in 2009, a year later than projected. Ford's realignment also includes the sale of its wholly owned
subsidiary,
Hertz Rent-a-Car to a
private equity group for $15 billion in cash and debt acquisition. The sale was completed on
December 22 2005. A
joint venture with
Mahindra and Mahindra Limited of
India ended with the sale of Ford's 15 percent stake in 2005.
Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer Ford also became
President of the company in April 2006, with the retirement of
Jim Padilla. Five months later, in September, he stepped down as President and CEO, and naming
Alan Mulally as his successor. Bill Ford continues as Executive Chairman, along with an executive operating committee made up of Mulally, Mark Schulz,
Lewis Booth, Don Leclair, and
Mark Fields.
Online
The domain
ford.com attracted at least
11 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a
Compete.com survey.
Brands and marques
Today, Ford Motor Company manufactures automobiles under several names including
Lincoln and
Mercury in the United States. In 1958, Ford introduced a new
marque, the
Edsel, but poor sales led to its discontinuation in 1960. Later, in 1985, the
Merkur brand was introduced to market Fords from Europe in the United States; it met a similar fate in 1989.
Ford has major manufacturing
operations in
Canada,
Mexico, the
United Kingdom,
Germany,
Turkey,
Brazil,
Argentina,
Australia, the
People's Republic of China, and several other countries, including
South Africa where, following divestment during
apartheid, it once again has a wholly owned subsidiary. Ford also has a cooperative agreement with Russian automaker
GAZ.
Since 1989, Ford has acquired
Aston Martin (which it sold again on
March 12,
2007, but it'll retain a $77 million stake in the sports car maker), and
Volvo Cars from
Sweden, as well as a
controlling share (33.4%) of
Mazda of Japan, with which it operates an American
joint venture plant in Flat Rock, Michigan called
Auto Alliance. It has spun off its parts division under the name
Visteon.
Ford's
FoMoCo parts division sells aftermarket parts under the
Motorcraft brand name.
Ford's non-manufacturing operations include organizations such as automotive finance operation
Ford Motor Credit Company. Ford also sponsors numerous events and sports facilities around the nation, most notably
Ford Center in downtown
Oklahoma City and
Ford Field in downtown
Detroit.
Overall the Ford Motor Company controls the following operational car marques: Ford,
Lincoln,
Mazda,
Mercury, and
Volvo.
Global markets
Initially, Ford models sold outside the U.S. were essentially versions of those sold on the home market, but later on, models specific to
Europe were developed and sold. Attempts to globalize the model line have often failed, with Europe's
Ford Mondeo selling poorly in the United States, while U.S. models such as the
Ford Taurus have fared poorly in
Japan and Australia, even when produced in
right hand drive. The small European model
Ka, a hit in its home market, didn't catch on in Japan, as it wasn't available as an automatic. The Mondeo was dropped by
Ford Australia, because the segment of the market in which it competes had been in steady decline, with buyers preferring the larger local model, the
Falcon. One recent exception is the European model of the
Focus, which has sold strongly on both sides of the
Atlantic.
From 2003, Toyota outsold Ford Motor worldwide. From the second quarter 2006, Toyota has passed Ford as the #2 automaker, by sales, in the United States.
The Ford Motor Company is in partnership talks to license hybrid technology from the Toyota Motor Corporation in a deal that could help establish Toyota's system as a standard for the industry.
Europe
At first,
Ford in Germany and the
United Kingdom built different models from one another until the late 1960s, with the
Ford Escort and then the
Ford Capri being common to both companies. Later on, the
Ford Taunus and
Ford Cortina became identical, produced in
left hand drive and right hand drive respectively. Rationalization of model ranges meant that production of many models in the UK switched to elsewhere in Europe, including
Belgium and
Spain as well as Germany. The
Ford Sierra replaced the Taunus and Cortina in 1982, drawing criticism for its radical aerodynamic styling, which was soon given nicknames such as "Jellymould" and "The Salesman's Spaceship."
Increasingly, Ford Motor Company has looked to
Ford of Europe for its "world cars," such as the Mondeo, Focus, and
Fiesta, although sales of European-sourced Fords in the U.S. have been disappointing. In
Asia, models from Europe are not as competitively priced as Japanese-built rivals, nor are they perceived as reliable. The Focus has been one exception to this, which has become America's best selling compact car since its launch in 2000.
In February 2002, Ford ended car production in the UK. It was the first time in 90 years that Ford cars hadn't been made in Britain, although production of the
Transit van continues at the company's
Southampton facility, engines at
Bridgend and
Dagenham, and transmissions at
Halewood. Development of European Ford is broadly split between
Dunton in Essex (powertrain, Fiesta/Ka, and commercial vehicles) and
Cologne (body, chassis, electrical, Focus, Mondeo) in Germany. Ford also produced the
Thames range of commercial vehicles, although the use of this brand name was discontinued circa 1965.
Elsewhere in continental Europe, Ford assembles the
Mondeo range in
Genk (
Belgium), Fiesta in
Valencia (
Spain) and
Cologne (
Germany), Ka in Valencia, and Focus in Valencia,
Saarlouis (Germany) and
Vsevolozhsk (
Russia). Transit production is in
Kocaeli (
Turkey),
Southampton (UK), and Transit Connect in
Kocaeli.
Ford also owns a joint-venture production plant in
Turkey. Ford-Otosan, established in the 1970s, manufactures the
Transit Connect compact panel van as well as the "Jumbo" and long wheelbase versions of the full-size Transit. This new production facility was set up near
Kocaeli in 2002, and its opening marked the end of Transit assembly in Genk.
Another joint venture plant near
Setubal in
Portugal, set up in collaboration with
Volkswagen, formerly assembled the
Galaxy people-carrier as well as its sister ships, the
VW Sharan and Seat Alhambra. With the introduction of the third generation of the Galaxy, Ford has moved the production of the people-carrier to the Genk plant, with Volkswagen taking over sole ownership of the Setubal facility.
Ford Europe has broken new ground with a number of relatively futuristic car launches over the last 50 years.
Its 1959
Anglia two-door saloon was one of the most quirky-looking small family cars in
Europe at the time of its launch, but buyers soon became accustomed to its looks and it was hugely popular with
British buyers in particular. It was still selling well when replaced by the more practical
Escort in 1967.
The third incarnation of the
Ford Escort was launched in 1980 and marked the company's move from rear-wheel drive saloons to front-wheel drive hatchbacks in the small family car sector. It also offered levels of style, comfort and refinement which were almost unmatched on comparable cars of this era. It was a huge success all over
Europe and it was Britain's most popular car for most of its 10-year production life.
The fourth generation Escort was produced from 1990 until 2000, although its successor - the
Focus - had been on sale since 1998. On its launch, the Focus was arguably the most dramatic-looking and fine-handling small family cars on sale, and sold in huge volumes right up to the launch of the next generation Focus at the end of 2004.
The 1982
Ford Sierra - replacement for the long-running and massively popular
Cortina and
Taunus models - was a style-setter at the time of its launch. Its ultramodern aerodynamic design was a world away from a boxy, sharp-edged Cortina, and it was massively popular just about everywhere it was sold. A series of updates kept it looking relatively fresh until it was replaced by the front-wheel drive
Mondeo at the start of 1993.
The first two incarnations of the Mondeo were well-built, refined and reliable family cars that attracted strong sales, but the third incarnation (launched in 2007) took the large family car market to new heights in terms of build quality, refinement, comfort, equipment, driver appeal and value for money.
The rise in popularity of small cars during the 1970s saw
Ford enter the mini-car market in 1976 with its
Fiesta hatchback. Most of its production was concentrated at
Valencia in
Spain, and the Fiesta sold in huge figures from the very start. An update in 1983 and the launch of an all-new model in 1989 strengthened its position in the small car market. The second generation Fiesta was significantly updated twice before an all-new model was launched in 2002, and over the years it has become more refined, spacious, better-built and more enjoyable to drive.
Asia Pacific
In
New Zealand and
Australia, the popular
Ford Falcon was long 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. Ford of that name, but since then has been entirely designed and manufactured locally. Like its
General Motors rival, the
Holden Commodore, the 4.0 L Falcon retains rear wheel drive. High performance variants of the Falcon running locally-built engines produce up to . A
ute (short for "utility," known in the US as
pickup truck) version is also available with a similar range of drivetrains. In addition, Ford Australia sells highly-tuned Falcon sedans and
utes through its performance car division,
Ford Performance Vehicles. These cars produce and are built in small numbers to increase their value as collectors' cars.
In Australia, the Commodore and Falcon have traditionally outsold all other cars and comprise over 20% of the new car market. In New Zealand, Ford was second in market share in the first eight months of 2006 with 14.4 per cent. This is all set to change with a shift away from local manufacturing and assembly: 2007 second quarter has seen Ford Australia cut their prestige (LWB) models and more recently, announced closure of their key engine manufacturing. This is due partly to drops in sales with stiff competition from Toyota's new Aurion and an updated Mitsubishi 380, both taking a large piece of the local family sedan market. Ford is betting on growth in small car sales with the Focus which it plans to assemble locally, and the popular Territory (Falcon-based) SUV.
Ford's presence in Asia has traditionally been much smaller. However, with the acquisition of a stake in Japanese manufacturer
Mazda in 1979, Ford began selling Mazda's Familia and Capella (also known as the
323 and
626) as the
Ford Laser and
Telstar. The Laser was one of the most successful models sold by Ford in Australia, and outsold the Mazda 323, despite being almost identical to it. The Laser was also built in Mexico and sold in the U.S. as the
Mercury Tracer, while the 1991 (and on through the end of the model in the early 2000s) American Ford Escort (and 1991-on Tracer) was based on the Laser/Mazda 323, assembled in the US and Mexico.
Through its relationship with Mazda, Ford also acquired a stake in
South Korean manufacturer
Kia, which built the (Mazda-based)
Ford Festiva from 1988-1993, and the
Ford Aspire from 1994-1997 for export to the United States, but later sold their interest to
Hyundai. Kia continued to market the Aspire as the Kia Avella, later replaced by the Rio and once again sold in the US. Ironically, Hyundai also manufactured the Ford Cortina until the 1980s. Ford also has a joint venture with Lio Ho in
Taiwan, which assembled Ford models locally since the 1970s.
Ford came to
India in 1998 with its
Ford Escort model, which was later replaced by locally produced
Ford Ikon in 2001. It has since added Fusion, Fiesta, Mondeo and Endeavour to its product line.
South America
In
South America, Ford has had to face protectionist government measures in each country, with the result that it built different models in different countries, without particular regard to rationalization or economy of scale inherent to producing and sharing similar vehicles between the nations. In many cases, new vehicles in a country were based on those of the other manufacturers it had entered into production agreements with, or whose factories it had acquired. For example, the
Corcel and
Del Rey in Brazil were originally based on
Renault vehicles.
In 1987, Ford merged its operations in Brazil and Argentina with those of
Volkswagen to form a company called
Autolatina, with which it shared models. Sales figures and profitability were disappointing, and Autolatina was dissolved in 1995. With the advent of
Mercosur, the regional common market, Ford was finally able to rationalize its product line-ups in those countries. Consequently, the
Ford Fiesta and
Ford EcoSport are only built in
Brazil, and the
Ford Focus only built in Argentina, with each plant exporting in large volumes to the neighboring countries. Models like the
Ford Mondeo from Europe could now be imported completely built up. Ford of Brazil produces a pick-up truck version of the Fiesta, the
Courier, which is also produced in South Africa as the
Ford Bantam in
right hand drive versions.
Africa and Middle East
In
Africa Ford's market presence has traditionally been strongest in
South Africa and neighboring 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 'bakkie' or pick-up, which was exported to the UK. In the mid-1980s Ford merged with a rival company, owned by
Anglo American, to form the
South African Motor Corporation (
Samcor).
Following international condemnation of
apartheid, Ford divested from South Africa in 1988, and sold its stake in Samcor, although it licensed the use of its brand name to the company. Samcor began to assemble Mazdas as well, which affected its product line-up, which saw the European Fords like the Escort and Sierra replaced by the
Mazda-based Laser and
Telstar. Ford bought a 45 per cent stake in
Samcor following the demise of apartheid in 1994, and this later became, once again, a wholly owned subsidiary, the Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa. Ford now sells a local sedan version of the Fiesta (also built in India and Mexico), and the Focus and Mondeo Europe. The Falcon model from Australia was also sold in South Africa, but was dropped in 2003.
Ford's market presence in the
Middle East has traditionally been even smaller, partly due to previous
Arab boycotts of companies dealing with
Israel. Ford and Lincoln vehicles are currently marketed in ten countries in the region.
Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, and the
UAE are the biggest markets. Ford also established itself in
Egypt in 1926, but faced an uphill battle during the 1950s due to the hostile nationalist business environment . Ford's distributor in Saudi Arabia announced in February 2003 that it had sold 100,000 Ford and Lincoln vehicles since commencing sales in November 1986. Half of the Ford/Lincoln vehicles sold in that country were
Ford Crown Victorias. In 2004, Ford sold 30,000 units in the region, falling far short of
General Motors' 88,852 units and
Nissan Motors' 75,000 units.
Environmental Record
Record of Ford's environmental decisions
Ford has a mixed record on environmental issues, consisting of both positive and negative reports. In 2003, Ford discarded its goal of improving mileage on sport-utility vehicles by 25 percent by 2005, considering that it would boost mileage of all vehicles instead. However, this plan had neither specific target nor goal.
William Clay Ford Jr., the chairman and chief executive of the Ford Motor Co., commented in 2002 that a credibility gap on environmental issues has eroded America's love for cars. "During the nearly 25 years I've worked in the industry, the love affair that people have had with automobiles has in some ways grown stale, and some would say it's even dying," Ford said. "If you remember, in California, people used to write songs about T-Birds and Corvettes. Today, they write regulations. "
For the 2007 model year, Ford has 13 U.S. models that achieve 30 miles per gallon or better (based on the highway fuel economy estimates of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)) and several of Ford’s vehicles were recognized in the EPA and Department of Energy Fuel Economy Guide for best-in-class fuel economy.Also, Ford has eliminated nearly 3 million pounds of smog-forming emissions from our U.S. cars and light trucks over the 2004 to 2006 model years.
Alternative fuel vehicles and hybrids
Ford's new hybrid cars]]
In 2000, under the leadership of the current Ford chairman, William Clay (Bill) Ford, the Company stunned the industry (and pleased environmentalists) with an announcement
of a planned 25 percent improvement in the average mileage of its light truck fleet — including its popular
SUVs — to be completed by the 2005
calendar year.
On the other hand, Ford ended the
Think City experiment and ordered all the cars repossessed and destroyed, even as many of the people leasing them begged to be able to buy the cars from Ford. After outcry from the lessees and activists in the US and Norway, Ford returned the cars to Norway for sale.
In 2003, Ford announced that competitive market conditions and technological and cost challenges would prevent the company from achieving this goal. The US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its 2005 fuel economy report ranking Ford cars, trucks and SUVs as having the lowest gas milleage of any automaker in America
Ford discontinued a line of electric Ranger pickup trucks and ordered them destroyed, though it reversed in January 2005, after environmentalist protest.
Ford did achieve significant progress toward improving
fuel efficiency during 2005, with the successful introduction of the
Hybrid-Electric Escape. The Escape's platform mate
Mercury Mariner is also available with the hybrid-electric system in the 2006 model year—a full year ahead of schedule—due to high demand. The similar
Mazda Tribute will also receive a hybrid-electric powertrain option, along with many other vehicles in the Ford vehicle line. In 2005, Ford announced its goal to make 250,000 hybrids a year by 2010, but by mid-2006 announced that it wouldn't meet that goal. Other hybrids to come out will be the
Ford Fusion and
Mercury Milan Hybrid version in 2008. There are also plans for a Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX Hybrid. The Edge and MKX are Ford's new crossover SUVs to come out for the 2007 model year.
Ford also continues to study
Fuel Cell-powered electric powertrains, and is currently demonstrating hydrogen-fueled
internal combustion engine technologies, as well as developing the next-generation hybrid-electric systems. To the extent it's successful in increasing the percentage of
hybrid vehicles and/or
fuel cell vehicles, there will be a significant decrease not only of
air pollution emissions but also reduced sound levels, with notable favorable impacts upon respiratory health and decrease of
noise health effects.
While the company's product line increasingly reflects its commitment to ecologically sustainable practices, Ford's record as a manufacturer continues to reveal problematic ones. Researchers at the
University of Massachusetts have listed it as the seventh-worst corporate producer of air pollution, primarily because of the
manganese compounds,
1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, and
glycol ethers released from its
casting, truck, and assembly plants. The
United States Environmental Protection Agency has linked Ford to 54
Superfund toxic waste sites, 12 of which have been cleaned up and deleted from the list.
Bill Ford was one of the first top industry executives to make regular use of an
battery electric vehicle, a
Ford Ranger EV, while the company contracted with the
United States Postal Service to deliver electric postal vans based on the Ranger EV platform.
The alternative fuel vehicles, such as some versions of the
Crown Victoria especially in fleet and taxi service, operate on
compressed natural gas—or
CNG. Some CNG vehicles have dual fuel tanks - one for gasoline, the other for
CNG - the same engine can operate on either fuel via a selector switch. Flexible fuel vehicles are designed to operate smoothly using a wide range of available fuel mixtures—from pure gasoline, to
bioethanol-gasoline blends such as
E85 (85%
ethanol, 15%
gasoline). Part of the challenge of successful marketing alternative and flexible fuel vehicles, is the general lack of establishment of sufficient
fueling stations, which would be essential for these vehicles to be attractive to a wide range of consumers. Significant efforts to ramp up production and distribution of
E85 fuels are underway and expanding.
Current Ford Flexible Fuel Vehicles:
Ford was third to the automotive market with a
hybrid electric vehicle: the
Ford Escape Hybrid, which also represented the first hybrid electric
SUV to market and started the Ford hybrid technology . The Hybrid Escape will also be the first hybrid electric vehicle with a
Flexible Fuel capability to run on
E85. The company had made plans to manufacture up to 250,000 hybrids a year by 2010, but has since had to back down on that commitment, due to excessively high costs and the lack of sufficient supplies of the hybrid-electric batteries and drivetrain system components. Instead, Ford has committed to accelerating development of next-generation hybrid-electric power plants in Britain, in collaboration with Volvo, Jaguar, and Land Rover. This engineering study is expected to yield more than 100 new hybrid-electric vehicle models and derivatives.
Ford is also planning to produce 250,000 E85-capable vehicles a year in the US, adding to some 1.6 million already sold in the last 10 years.
Ford also has launched the production of
hydrogen-powered shuttle buses, using hydrogen instead of gasoline in a standard
internal combustion engine, for use at airports and convention centers. At the 2006
Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, Ford showcased a hydrogen fuel cell version of its Explorer SUV. The Fuel cell Explorer has a combined output of . It has a large hydrogen storage tank which is situated in the center of the car taking the original place of the conventional model’s automatic transmission. The centered position of the tank assists the vehicle reach a notable range of, the farthest for a fuel cell vehicle so far. The fuel cell Explorer the first in a series of prototypes partly funded by the
United States Department of Energy to expand efforts to determine the feasibility of hydrogen- powered vehicles. The fuel cell Explorer is one of several vehicles with green technology Ford being featured at the L.A. show, including the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid, PZEV emissions compliant Fusion and Focus models and a 2008 Ford F-Series Super Duty outfitted with Ford's clean diesel technology.
Ford announced on 2007-07-09 that it'll team up with
Southern California Edison (SCE) to examine the future of
plug-in hybrids in terms of how home and vehicle energy systems will work with the electrical grid. Under the multi-million-dollar, multi-year project, Ford will convert a demonstration fleet of
Ford Escape Hybrids into plug-in hybrids, and SCE will evaluate how the vehicles might interact with the home and the utility's electrical grid. Some of the vehicles will be evaluated "in typical customer settings," according to Ford.
Rally
Ford has a long history in
rallying and has been active in the
World Rally Championship since the beginning of the world championship, the
1973 season. Ford took the
1979 manufacturers' title with
Hannu Mikkola,
Björn Waldegård and
Ari Vatanen driving the
Ford Escort RS1800. In the
Group B era, Ford achieved success with
Ford RS200. Since the
1999 season, Ford has used various versions of the
Ford Focus WRC to much success. In the
2006 season,
BP-Ford World Rally Team secured Ford its second manufacturers' title, with the Focus RS WRC 06 built by
M-Sport and driven by
Flying Finns Marcus Grönholm and
Mikko Hirvonen. Continuing with Grönholm and Hirvonen, Ford successfully defended the manufacturers' world championship in the
2007 season. Ford is the only manufacturer to score in the points for 92 consecutive races; since the
2002 season opener
Monte Carlo Rally.
Sports cars
Ford sports cars have always been visible in the world of endurance racing. Most notably the
GT40 won the prestigious
24 Hours of Le Mans four times in the 1960s and still stands today as one of the all-time greatest racing cars. The GT40 is the only American car to ever win overall at Le Mans.
Ford won the manufacturers title in 2005 in the
KONI Challenge Series with the FR500C Mustang race car.
Touring cars
Ford has campaigned touring cars such as the
Focus,
Falcon, and
Contour/
Mondeo and the
Sierra Cosworth in many different series throughout the years. Notably, the Mondeo finished 1,2,3 in the
British Touring Car Championship in 2000, and the Falcon finished 1,2,3 in the Australian
V8 Supercar Series in 2005.
Other
In the
Indianapolis 500, Ford powered
IndyCars won 17 times between 1965 and 1996. Ford has a storied history in the
Trans-Am series from the 1970s through today, having won many championships and races with its
Ford Mustang. Ford has also branched out into drifting with the introduction of the new model Mustang. Most noticeable is the Turquoise and Blue Falken Tires Mustang driven by Vaughn Gittin Jr, A.K.A. "JR". with 750 RWHP (Rear Wheel Horsepower). In
drag racing, John Force has piloted his Drag
Ford Mustang to several
NHRA funny-car titles in recent seasons.
Formula Ford, a formula for single-seater cars without wings and originally on road tires were conceived in 1966 in the UK as an entry-level formula for racing drivers. Many of today's racing drivers started their car racing careers in this category.
Ford trucks
Ford has produced trucks since 1908. Countries where Ford commercial vehicles are or were made include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada (badged
Mercury too), France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Philippines, Spain (badged
Ebro too), Turkey, UK (badged also
Fordson and
Thames) and USA.
Most of all these ventures are now extinct. The European one that lasted longer was the lorries arm of
Ford of Britain, that was eventually sold to
Iveco group in 1986, and whose last significant models were the
Transcontinental and the
Cargo.
In the USA, Ford's heavy trucks division (Classes 7 and 8) was sold in 1997 to
Freightliner, now part of
DaimlerChrysler, that rebranded it as
Sterling. Ford continues building medium class trucks with the F-650 and F-750 and recently introduced the LCF series similar in design to the
Ford Cargo trucks of the past.
Bus products
Ford has manufactured buses in the company's early history, but most Ford buses are built on Ford chassis by other manufacturers.
Ford 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. They were also produced in
Leningrad beginning in 1924.
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. This company was bought by
Fiat in 1993 and the name changed from Ford New Holland to New Holland.
New Holland is now part of
CNH Global.
Criticism
Throughout its history, the company has faced a wide range of criticisms. Some have accused the early
Fordist model of production of being exploitative, and Ford has been criticized as being willing to collaborate with
dictatorships or hire mobs to intimidate union leaders and increase their profits through unethical means.
Ford refused to allow
collective bargaining until 1941, with the Ford Service Department being set up as an internal security, intimidation, and espionage unit within the company, and quickly gained a reputation of using violence against union organizers and sympathizers.
Ford was also criticized for wearing down
Firestone tires during driving, which caused many wrecks during a short time period in 2003. Many people were injured and killed due to the wearing down of the tires. Although
Firestone received most of the blame, some blame fell on Ford, which advised customers to under-inflate the tires.
Alleged Nazi collaboration
Other accusations were that the company collaborated with the German
Nazi regime and relied on Germany. The
German Ford company used
slave labor in
Cologne between 1941 and 1945 and it had produced military vehicles such as jeeps, planes, and ships used by a fascist regime. Many of these allegations were made in a series of
United States lawsuits in 1998. The lawsuit was dismissed in 1999 because the judge concluded "the issues...concerned international treaties between nations and foreign policy and were thus in the realm of the executive branch."
Detractors point to
Henry Ford's outspoken
anti-semitism, including his newspaper,
The Dearborn Independent, which published
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. They also point to the fact that in 1938, four months after the German annexation of Austria, Ford accepted the
Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the Nazi regime's highest honor for foreigners before the outbreak of the war, as the only American ever to be given the award..
Defenders of the company argue that the Ford German division,
Fordwerke, had been taken over by the Nazi government after it rose to power, claiming that it wasn't under the company's control, though Henry Ford, according to court records, did stay in touch with the company. Although Ford's initial motivations were anti-war, the company was heavily involved in the war effort after the outbreak of war.
The Ford Pinto Memo
In September 1971 the Ford Motor Company launched the Pinto for the North American market. Through early production of this model it emerged that design flaws could result in fuel tank explosions when the vehicle was subject to a rear-end collision. Some sources even allege this safety data was available to Ford prior to production, but was ignored for economic reasons. Either way, a major scandal followed with the leaking to San Francisco magazine
Mother Jones of the notorious "Ford Pinto Memo", an internal Ford cost-benefit analysis showing that the cost of implementing design changes to the subcompact's fuel system was greater than the economic cost of the burn injuries and deaths that could be prevented by doing so. Subsequently some have played down the importance of this case as Pinto explosion fatality estimates range widely from 27 to 900,
In the related Ford Pinto product liability case Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co., 119 Cal. App. 3d 757 (4th Dist. 1981) the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District reviewed Ford's conduct and upheld compensatory damages of $2.5 million and punitive damages of $3.5 million against Ford. Of the two plaintiffs, one was killed in the collision that caused her Pinto to explode, and her passenger, 13-year old Richard Grimshaw, was badly burned and scarred for life.
A similar problem occurred in Australia with faulty plastic tanks shipped from the U.S. (deemed unsafe for use in the U.S.) and installed in the locally produced Ford Falcon, and when hit at the rear the tanks burst into flame, with the same effects as above.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ford Motors'.
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