the ford cars

Ford was launched in a converted factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John Francis Dodge and Horace Elgin Dodge who would later found the Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicle 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 largest and most profitable companies in the world, as well as being one of the few to survive the Great Depression. The largest family-controlled company in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.

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).[9]

The main corporate officers are: Lewis Booth (Executive Vice President, Chairman (PAG) and Ford of Europe), Mark Fields (Executive Vice President, President [The Americas]), Donat Leclair (Executive Vice President and CFO), Mark A. Schulz (Executive Vice President, President [International Operations]) and Michael E. Bannister (Group Vice President; Chairman & CEO Ford Motor Credit).[10]. Paul Mascarenas (Vice President of Engineering, The Americas Product Development)

Recent company developments

During the mid to late 1990s, Ford sold large numbers of vehicles, in a booming American economy with soaring stock market and low fuel prices. With the dawn of the new century, legacy healthcare costs, higher fuel prices, and a faltering economy led to falling market shares, declining sales, and sliding profit margins. Most of the corporate profits came from financing consumer automobile loans through Ford Motor Credit Company.

By 2005, corporate bond rating agencies had downgraded the bonds of both Ford and GM to junk status [12], 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. [13]

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 chasses. Ford also developed alternative fuel and high efficiency vehicles, such as the Escape Hybrid.[14]. Ford announced that it will 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. [15] [16]

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 [17]. Chairman Bill Ford has stated that "bankruptcy is not an option" [18], but economists have stated that the company's impending contract renewal with the United Auto Workers in the summer of 2007 could be brutal. The UAW has vowed to attempt to retain the jobs banks, a system which retains idled workers on the payroll, rather than laying them off, in order to maintain contracted US employment levels.

The automaker reported the largest annual loss in company history in 2006 of $12.7 billion, [20] and estimated that it would not return to profitability until 2009.[21] However, Ford surprised Wall Street in the second quarter of 2007 by posting a $750 million profit. The company finished the year with a $2.7 billion loss, largely attributed to finance restructuring at Volvo.

Ford has announced plans to sell Land Rover and Jaguar, with Tata Motors being the leading prospective buyer.

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"

Main article: 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.

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; 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[25], but it will retain a $77 million stake in the sports car maker[26]), Jaguar, Land Rover, from the United Kingdom 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. Its prestige brands, with the exception of Lincoln, are managed through its Premier Automotive Group.

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: Daimler, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury, and Volvo; Daimler, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo are currently part of the Premier Automotive Group.

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, did not catch on in Japan, as it was not 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. [27]. From the second quarter 2006, Toyota has passed Ford as the #2 automaker, by sales, in the United States[28].

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