Ford Motor Company is a multinational American organization that designs, produces, markets, and services a comprehensive line of cars, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), trucks, electrified automobiles, and Lincoln Luxury cars. It also offers financial services through the Ford Motor Credit Company. The company boasts of more than 115 years' experience in manufacturing automobiles. Based in Michigan, Detroit, Ford is the second biggest car producer in the United States and is one of the top 10 largest automakers in the world.
Ford has 191,000 employees supporting its automotive operations worldwide. More than half of them are based in the United States, 28% are in Europe, and 12% are in Asia/Pacific. A smaller number working out of facilities and offices in South America and Middle East and Africa. Ford's global network spans 11,534 dealerships, including those that cater to the Lincoln brand.
History/Origin
Ford is one of the largest and most enduring family-owned organizations in the world. The company's history all started with American Henry Ford, who built his first experimental car – a gasoline-powered car which he called Quadricycle – in a workshop behind his Detroit home. After two failed attempts to form a car manufacturing company, he successfully incorporated the Ford Motor Company with 11 other investors in June 1903.
Five years later, the company introduced the Model T, which brought Ford on the map of car making. The high demand for this car compelled Ford to develop new mass production methods. Through its 19 years of production, the Model T sold more than 15 million units in the United States alone, organically evolving from a luxury item to an ordinary person's transportation means.
In 1911, Ford built an assembly plant in Kansas City, Missouri and opened its first overseas production facility in Manchester, England. The Ford founder is known for innovations and strategies that would shape the car industry in a big way. In 1913, he pioneered the use of a moving assembly line in making cars. This vastly reduced the production time for the Model T, which in turn reduced the cost of the car, and revolutionized the manufacturing industry in general. In the following year, Ford instituted the then controversial US$5 daily wage for an eight-hour labor, which was more than double the US$2.34 for a nine-hour day that was widely adopted at the time. The increased pay and leisure time contributed to the formation of an American middle class.
The year 1917 saw Ford manufacture its first truck. By 1923, the company was supplying more than half the car demand in the United States, and, by the end of the decade, its status as a major automobile maker had reached global level, with more than 20 overseas assembly facilities scattered in Europe, Canada, Asia, Latin America, and South Africa.
Ford had made several acquisitions through the decades. Its first purchase was that of the then five-year-old Lincoln Motor Company in 1922, which gave birth to Ford's luxury car lineup. However, the company's appetite for acquisition was more prominent during the 1990s and early 2000s, which saw British luxury car manufacturer Jaguar, rental company Hertz, Volvo's automobile division, and the Land Rover brand of SUVs being brought into the fold.
Then more than a century old, Ford managed to hold the fort during the crisis that swept the U.S. automobile industry in the early 21st century. The company made such possible by adopting various cost-cutting measures such as focusing on stronger brands and selling some of its acquisitions. The company let go of Aston Martin in 2007; Jaguar and Land Rover in 2008; and Volvo in 2010. It benefited from the government's "cash-for-clunkers" plan which offered car buyers up to $4,500 for trading in older cars for new models, which were more fuel-efficient, while its rivals General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy at the time. More recent initiatives from Ford include the development of car-sharing ventures, which saw the formation of Ford Smart Mobility in 2016 and increasing its line of electric cars.
History/Locally
In the Philippines, the sales, marketing and service activities of Ford is handled by Ford Motor Company Philippines Inc. The company distributes Ford vehicles manufactured in Thailand and North America. Ford's history in the country started as early as 1913 with the local assembly of the highly successful Model T. The company's founder established Pilipinas Ford Car Works, Inc. in 1929. In 1967, the Philippine subsidiary called Ford Philippines, Inc. was formed and soon after began production operations in its facility in Paranaque. Eight years later, the company opened a body stamping plant in Bataan. Ford Philippines, however, unexpectedly shut down its Philippine operations in 1984 and returned only in 1997 with Ford Motor Company Philippines, Inc.
Soon after Ford's comeback, it opened a new assembly factory in Santa Rosa, Laguna, producing the Lynx and later Mazda-based Ford Ranger. In line with Ford's efforts to consolidate its manufacturing operations in the Southeast Asian region, it closed the Santa Rosa plant, which was subsequently bought by Mitsubishi Motors.
Famous Models
In the Philippines, the Ford makes available several models. Such include the Fiesta and the Focus in the passenger car space; the Ecosport, the Explorer, the Expedition, and the Everest in the SUV segment; and the Ranger and Raptor in the pickup-truck sector. There is also the Mustang, a high-performance vehicle. Ford's biggest nameplates in the country are the Everest, the Ranger and the EcoSport. Ford introduced 2018 iterations for latter two models, with the updated Ecosport released in August and the new Ranger in September.
The all-new Ford Everest is a far cry from its old version, sporting a new design, refined handling, and upscale equipment. This seven-seater SUV competes with the Toyota Fortuner and the Mitsubishi Montero Sport. In the Philippines, Ford offers the Everest in two engine variants. One is a 2.2-liter turbodiesel inline four-cylinder engine paired with either a manual or an automatic transmission available in two-wheel drive trims. The other is a 3.2-liter inline five-cylinder diesel workhorse that is paired with automatic gearbox and is found in the higher four-wheel drive variants.
Known for its rugged platform and muscular appeal, the Ranger is a top-selling pickup truck from Ford. The Ranger is available in Raptor, Wildtrak, XLT, and XLS variants with options of a 2.0-liter Bi Turbo Diesel or a 2.2-liter TDCi engine mated to either a 10-speed automatic or a 6-speed automatic or manual transmission. The Wildtrak and XLS models are offered in two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive variants.
The Ecosport is a bestselling subcompact crossover SUV in Southeast Asia. Even though this model has been available in other market as early as 2003, it was only in 2014 that Ford released it in the Philippine market. The Ecosport available locally comes in two engine options: a 1.5-liter EcoBoost unit paired with either a five-speed manual gearbox or a six-speed automatic transmission or a 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine attached to a six-speed automatic transmission.
Another model worth highlighting is the Ford Focus, which is available in four-door sedan and five-door hatchback forms. Both body types run on 1.5-liter EcoBoost Sport engines. All trims use a six-speed automatic gearbox, with the option of getting paddle shifters. Ford has recently been streamlining its product lineup, focusing on SUVs, crossover vehicles, and trucks. According to an announcement in 2018, the company would cease production of all passenger cars except for the Ford Focus and the Mustang.
Performance
In its home base, the United States, Ford sold over 2.5 million vehicles in 2018. Of this, 46% were trucks, 35% were SUVs, and 19% were cars. Globally, Ford sold six million cars during the year. Much of the sales went to North America, contributing a little less than half of the sales volume. Europe and Asia/Pacific chipped in 1.5 million and 1.1 million, respectively. The United States is the company's biggest market.
Statistics from Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI), the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA), and the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors (AVID) pegged Ford as the fifth largest car manufacturer in the Philippines based on volume sales in 2018. During the period, the company sold 23,571 units, a 35.6% drop from the previous year. Its market share stood at 5.9 percent.
Other infos
In line with its mission to expand its business model to be mobility-centric, Ford built in 2016 a subsidiary called Ford Smart Mobility, which is tasked to design and invest in new mobility services. Initiatives from the Ford Smart Mobility include the launch of the Sync 3 System on models under the Ford and Lincoln brand, more than 30 global mobility experiences, and the introduction of FordPass.
At the end of 2018, Ford and the entities that it consolidated use eight regional research, development, and engineering centers. Additionally, the company has 61 manufacturing and assembly plants, of which 32 are in North America, eight are in South America, 15 are in Europe, two are in Middle East and Africa, and four are in Asia/Pacific. The figure include plants operated by Ford or its consolidated joint ventures. Such include the Ford Lio Ho Motor Company Ltd., a joint venture with Lio Ho Group and individual stakeholders in Taiwan; Ford Sollers Netherlands B.V., which it co-owns with Sollers PJSC and maintains three manufacturing factories and one engine plant in Russia; and Ford Vietnam Ltd, a joint venture with Diesel Song Cong One Member Limited Liability Company that owns a plant in Vietnam. Furthermore, Ford's automobile business is supported by additional plants operated by unconsolidated joint venture. These facilities are in Thailand, China, Turkey, England, Germany, France, and. Slovakia.