Ford is an American automotive corporation established in 1903 by Henry Ford and his 11 associate partners. In 1919, the firm was reunified by his wife named Clara, and his son named Edsel.
After this, they took over complete ownership; their successors and the Ford Foundation were alone stockholders till January 1956.
The company makes passenger cars and trucks along with automotive parts and accessories. It is among the most successful automotive brands in marketing history.
The Initial Phase
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Henry Ford made his first experimental car in 1896 in a workshop, which was located behind his house in Detroit. After the Ford Motor Company was established, the first experimental car Model A was assembled at the Mark Avenue plant in July 1903.
After five years, in 1908, the Model T was launched. The demand for the model was unexpectedly high, as a result of which Ford had to do new mass production methods for producing its ample amount.
In 1911, Henry Ford introduced the first U.S. branch assembly plant in Kansas City, Missouri, and launched the firm’s first overseas production plant. In 1913, the first moving assembly line for cars was introduced.
In 1914, to enhance labor productivity, he launched the $5 daily wage for an eight-hour day. Assembly line generation permitted the value of the Model T touring-car model to be down from $850 in 1908 to not more than $300 in 1925.
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In 1908, the first international sales branch was established in Paris. By mid-1914, there were over 500,000 models of Ts over the world. The company was making over half of America’s automobiles till 1923 and it established over 20 overseas assembly plants in Europe by 1930.
1922 was the year when Ford took over the Lincoln Motor Company which made the luxury Lincolns and Continentals for Ford.
The Expansion Phase
Till 1906, Henry Ford had about 58.5% of the stock of the company, and at the time when the other stockholders resisted the idea of making a River Rouge plant in Dearborn, he drew them out; Edsel Ford became president.
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The Ford Motor Company put a break over the making of civilian cars in 1942, to focus on giving service to the U.S. military. After the death of Edsel in 1943, Henry Ford was once again the President.
However, in 1945 he gave the presidency to his grandson Henry Ford II. This time, the new president restructured the firm’s tangled system of financial management and stimulated the corporate culture.
Under the leadership of Henry Ford II, the firm launched the models such as the Thunderbird and the Mustang. Although, the unsuccessful Edsel model was so catastrophic.
Henry Ford II served the firm as CEO and chairman of the board. Between the 1950s and 60s, the Ford Motor Company started restricted diversification, like in its buying of the electronics firm Philco in 1961, but by the 1990s it has concentrated once again on financial services.
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Ford also took over Jaguar in 1989-90. Aston Martin became a completely owned branch in 1993. After this, the taking-over process added the rental car firm Hertz Corporation in 1994, the automobile branch of Volvo in 1999, and the Land Rover brand of sport utility vehicles in 2000.
Ford has also bought a vital share of the Mazda Motor Corporation. Although, as Ford coped in the early 21st century, it started selling these brands.
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Ford sold Hertz in 2005 and Aston Martin in 2007. It sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors Ltd. of India in 2008. Ford initiated selling its Mazda shares in 2008 and entirely divested them in 2015.
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