Ford has become an American multinational coporation based in Michigan, Metroit. Henry Ford founded the company in June 16,1903. Ford Motor Company has had a few brans under its wing such as Jaguar, and Land Rover; now they belong to an Indian Company known as Tata Motors (2008). As of now, Lincoln Motors, Mercury, Mazda, Aston Martin, and Volvo belong to the Ford Motro Company.
Ford is the world’s largest automaker. However, within sales, and revenue in the United States, Ford has fallen from second to thirds place. This happened back in 2007. Toyota and General Motors, beat Ford in overall sales for 2007. There comes monthly periods inwhich Ford Sales beat those of Toyota and General Motors, but within the yearly sales, Ford stays in third place.
Ford Motor Company became known as a company in 1903. It was a investment of US$ 28,000 by twelve different investors. John , and Horace Dodge were the most noted investors (later on creating their own brand, Dodge). Henry Ford’s first attempt was to name the company Henry Ford Company on November 1901. In August 1902, it became Cadillac Motor Company. In the early years of the company, they had a small productioin of vehilces. There were only a small group of engeniers working on the cars, but kept growing numers every year. During the Great Depression, Ford Motor Company was one of the only companies that survived the economy.
Current Company Developments
During November 2008, Ford, together with Chrysler and General Motors, sought financial aid at Congressional hearings in Washington D.C. in the face of worsening conditions caused by the automotive industry crisis. The three companies presented action plans for the sustainability of the industry. The Detroit based automakers were unsuccessful at obtaining assistance through Congressional legislation. On December 19, the debt of Ford was 68 percent the sum insured for five years in addition to annual payments of 5 percent. That means it costs $6.8 million paid upfront to insure $10 million in debt, in addition to payments of $500,000 per year.] In January 2009, Ford announced a $14.6 billion loss in the preceding year, making 2008 its worst year in history. Still, the company claimed to have sufficient liquidity to fund its business plans and thus, did not ask for government aid.
In Europe, Ford has become the second largest automaker. It has been known that sales in Europe exceed those in the USA. The lartgest European market for Ford are the countries of: Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
In 2008, Ford had produced around 5.500 million autmobiles and gave people 213,000 jobs in the 90 plants around the world.
Since 2001, Ford has had their vehicles ranked in the top of their categories. Fourteen of their vehicles ranked in the top three charts.