Ford Motor Company

The Ford Motor Company (often referred to simply as Ford; sometimes nicknamed FoMoCo, {{NYSE|F}} is an automobile maker founded by Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, and incorporated on June 16, 1903. According to Fortune magazine, DaimlerChrysler and Toyota Motor replaced Ford as the world's number two and three automobile manufacturers by revenue in 2004. For many years before that Ford was global number two behind General Motors. Ford remains one of the world's ten largest corporations by revenue.

Europe

Initially, 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 Taurus and Ford Cortina became identical, produced in left hand drive and right hand drive respectively. Rationalisation 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 Taurus and Cortina in 1982, drawing criticism for its radical aerodynamic styling, which was soon given nicknames such as "Jellymould" and "The Salesman's Spaceship".

Related Topics:
1960s - Ford Escort - Ford Capri - Ford Taurus - Ford Cortina - Left hand drive - Belgium - Spain - Ford Sierra - 1982

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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 US have been disappointing, and 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.

Related Topics:
Focus - Fiesta - Asia

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In 2001, Ford ended car production in the UK and it was the first time in more than 80 years that Ford cars had not 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. It owns the Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin car plants in Britain which are still operational. Ford's Halewood Assembly Plant was converted to Jaguar production.

Related Topics:
2001 - Transit - Bridgend - Dagenham - Halewood - Dunton - Cologne - Thames - 1965

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Elsewhere in Continental Europe, Ford assembles the Mondeo range in its Belgian facility in Genk (where a Transit production line was also maintained until 2003), while Fiesta/Ka assembly takes place in the Valencia plant in Spain. The Saarlouis and Cologne plants in Germany take responsibility for European assembly of the Focus.

Related Topics:
Mondeo - Genk - 2003 - Valencia - Spain - Saarlouis - Cologne - Germany - Focus

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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 assembles the Galaxy people carrier as well as its sister ship the VW Sharan.

Related Topics:
Turkey - Transit Connect - Kocaeli - 2002 - Setubal - Portugal - Volkswagen - Galaxy - VW Sharan

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