Ford History
Everyone knows the story of Ford and the founder Henry Ford. Ford is based in Dearborn, Michigan in Detroit America. It was founded by Henry Ford in 1903. Ford is now one of the largest producers of automobiles in the world with revenue exceeding $177 Billion dollars. They employ over 350,000 people all over the world.
Ford now owns some of the most popular brand name cars in the world. Aston Martin, Jaguar, Daimler, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury and Volvo are some of the brands that Ford owns out right or has a controlling stake in. It is one of the worlds largest corporations, being in the top 10. It is also the third largest car manufacturer in the world.
The Ford motor company was started with just $28,000 from 12 investors out of an old wagon factory. In 1908, the Ford company launched the Ford Model T which many cars of the day were later designed from. By 1913, Ford was creating 50% of the cars made in America, with the Model T making up the lion share in sales.
The Ford corporation was known for its effectiveness as well as it’s fairness to employees. Henry Ford was the first person to set a standard minimum wage and a 40 hour work week, long before the government passed laws stating the same.
The modern era of Ford has not been as prosperous. It has not gained on it’s market share since 1995 and has been laying off employees and selling off their brands that have not been profitable for them for the last few years.
Ford is also involved heavily in the sport of racing. It was involved in the Formula One race series for many years. Ford entered the F1 with the Jaguar race team with little to no success and later sold the team which has now become Red Bull racing.
They also compete in rally championships with quite a lot of success. They also own the Formula Ford series and are one of the four manufacturers in the NASCAR racing series.