Split Personalities of Ford

8/8/2019 Split Personalities of Ford

1/20

Colegiul National „Silvania”, Zalau

Atestat lingvistic

” ”

Autor: Profesor coordonator:

Matei Vladut-Ionut Seisanu Gilda

Clasa a XII-a A

Matematica-Informatica Bilingv

Zalau, Mai 2015


2/20

Page | 1

Tabel of contents

Argument............................................................................................................ 2

I. Ford in United States: The birth of a giant..................................................3

1.

Early developments

2.

Lincoln Motor Company

3.

The Great Depression and Model A

4.

World War II and Post-World War II developments

5.

Ford introduces the F-Series line of trucks, 1949 Ford and Thunderbird

6. Ford begins crash testing its vehicles

7. The Ford Mustang goes on sale

8. Trucks

9.

Buses10.

Recapitalization, restructuring

II. Ford in Europe: The First Hundred Years................................................10

1.

Manufacturing Operations are soon Established

2.

Model T drives European Expansion

3.

Life after the Model T

4. Ford Europe makes its debut

5. 1967 – 1973: Cortina and Escort

6.

1974 – 1980: MK 2 Escort and New Fiesta7.

1981 – 1989: Breaking new ground

8.

1990 – 1997: Driven by you

9.

1998 – 2003: New Edge design

10.

2004 – present: Kinetic Design

11.

Trucks

12.

Tractors

Conclusion.........................................................................................................18

Bibliography......................................................................................................19


3/20

Page | 2

Argument

Have you ever thought why man invented the car? Yes because he was a little lazy, but also as a way much easier to travel and to transport heavy materials. These are the reasonswhy Henry Ford decided initially to build a Quadricycle then a car and giving birth to the

Ford company. Henry's legacy is still alive even after 100 years since its founding and is oneof the largest companies in the world

Ford Motor Company is an American automaker and the world's fifth largest

automaker based on worldwide vehicle sales. Based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of

Detroit, the automaker was founded by Henry Ford, on June 16, 1903. Ford Motor Company

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 110 years. Moreover, Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and

large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered

manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines; by 1914 these methods were

known around the world as Fordism.


4/20

Page | 3

Ford in United States: The birth of a giant

Henry Ford builds the Quadricycle which is

Henry Ford’s first vehicle rode on four bicycle wheels

and was powered by a four-horsepower engine. Instead

of steering wheel, the Quadricycle had a tiller. The

gearbox had only two forward gears with no reverse.

Henry Ford's initial foray into automobile

manufacturing was the Detroit Automobile Company,

founded in 1899. The company foundered, and in 1901

was reorganized as the Henry Ford Company. In March

1902, after falling out with his financial backers, Ford

left the company with the rights to his name and 900 dollars.

Henry Ford turned to an acquaintance, coal dealer Alexander Y. Malcomson, to helpfinance another automobile company. Malcomson put up the money to start the partnership

"Ford and Malcomson" and the pair designed a car and began ordering parts. However, by

February 1903, Ford and Malcomson had gone through more money than expected, and the

manufacturing firm of John and Horace Dodge, who had made parts for Ford and

Malcomson, was demanding payment. Malcomson, constrained by his coal business

demands, turned to his uncle John S. Gray, the president of the German-American Savings

Bank and a good friend. Malcomson proposed incorporating Ford and Malcomson to bring in

new investors, and wanted Gray to join the company, thinking that Gray's name would attract

other investors. Gray was not interested at first, but Malcomson promised he could withdraw

his share at any time, so Gray reluctantly agreed. On the strength of Gray's name, Malcomson

recruited other business acquaintances to invest, including local merchants Albert Strelow

and Vernon Fry, lawyers John Anderson and Horace Rackham, Charles T. Bennett of the

Daisy Air Rifle Company, and his own clerk James Couzens. Malcomson also convinced the

Dodges to accept stock in lieu of payment.

Early developments

Ford Motor Company would go on and label their models chronologically in

alfabetical order, starting with the Model A to the Model K and Model S, which was Ford'slast right-hand steering vehicle. Then, in 1908 Ford introduced the Model T, which was

designed by Childe Harold Wills and two Hungarian immigrants, Joseph A. Galamb and

Eugene Farkas. This model proved to be of quintessential Ford vehicle, placing the company

among the most influential automotive brands in history.

The Ford Model T was reliable, practical and affordable, which made it a big hit in the

US, where it was advertised as the middle-class man's vehicle. The car's success compelled

Ford to expand his business and layout the basics of mass production principles in 1913 with

the introduction of the world's first vehicle assembly line. By 1912, production figures for the

Model T alone reached nearly 200,000 units.


5/20

Page | 4

This organizational innovation brought in the vehicle construction field allowed Ford to

reduce chassis assembly time by as much as 10 hours, dropping from 12 ½ h to 2h 40 min.

In 1915, Henry Ford went on a peace mission to Europe aboard a ship, joining other

pacifists in efforts to stop World War I. This led to an increase in his personal popularity.

Ford would subsequently go on to support the war effort with the Model T becoming theunderpinnings for Allied military vehicles, like the Ford 3-Ton M1918 tank, and the 1916

ambulance.

Lincoln Motor Company

On February 4, 1922 Ford expanded its reach into the luxury auto market through its

acquisition of theLincoln from Henry Leland, his former business associate from the Detroit

Automobile Company. Since then, Lincoln has produced many luxury cars of historical and

aesthetic note, including the 1931-1939 K-Series, 1936 Zephyr, Edsel Ford’s original

Continental, the ensuing first-generation Lincoln Continental and the classic 1956-1957Continental Mk. II

The Great Depression and Model A

While the Model T dominated the auto industry

from 1908 to the early 1920s, by the middle of the decade

there was fierce competition from other automakers. After

the 15 millionth Model T drove off the assembly line on

May 26, 1927, Ford closed plants all over the world to

spend six months retooling factories and perfecting thedesign of a new car. Ford called the new car the Model A,

commemorating Ford Motor Company’s first car, the 1903

Model A. The car was the first vehicle to sport the iconic Blue Oval logo, and it included

innovative features like a Safety Glass windshield. By 1931 Ford had sold over five million

Model As despite the difficulties of the Great Depression.

During the great depression, Ford in common with other manufacturers, responded to

the collapse in motor sales by reducing the scale of their operations and laying off workers.

By 1932, the unemployment rate in Detroit had risen to 30%with thousands of families facing

real hardship. Although Ford did assist a small number of distressed families with loans and parcels of land to work, the majority of the thousands of unskilled workers who were laid off

were left to cope on their own. However, Henry Ford angered many by making public

statements that the unemployed should do more to find work for themselves.

This led to Detroit's Unemployed Council organizing the Ford Hunger March. On March 7,

1932 some 3,000 - 5,000 unemployed workers assembled in West Detroit to march on Ford's

River Rouge plant to deliver a petition demanding more support.


6/20

Page | 5

World War II and Post-World War II developments

With the arrival of WWII Ford increased its influence on the global stage becoming

an active player in the war effort, a thing underlined by US President Franklin Roosevelt

referring to Detroit as the "Arsenal of Democracy." When the US War Department handed

production of B-24 Liberator airplanes to Ford, the output rose to 20 airplanes per day instead

of only one per day managed by the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation. The company

enthusiatically supported the war effort after Pearl Harbor, making it a major component of

the "Arsenal of Democracy" that President Roosevelt had promised would mobilize industrial

resources to win the war. Henry, aged 76 and early senile, played a minor role even though he

had 55% ownership of the company stock. His son Edsell Ford, the company president and

owner of 42% of the stock, had never been a pacifist like his father and now made all the

decisions. The company produced 390,000 tanks and trucks, 27,000 engines, 270,000 Jeeps,

over 8000 B-24 Liberators, and hundreds of thousands of parts, gun mounts, and machine

tools for the war effort. It ranked third among corporations in the value of wartime productioncontracts.

After WWII Ford continued its passenger vehicle operations and in 1955 introduced

the iconic Thunderbird model. Then it introduced the Edsel brand in 1958, which proved to

be a failure and was dissolved in 1960. Part Edsel's failure as an automotive brand resided in

the onset of the 1957 recession in the States and the vehicle's high price tag.

Ford Motor Co. managed to get back up from its Edsel failure with the introduction of the

Falcon model in 1960 and the Mustang in 1964. The company's next major step was

represented by the formation of Ford Europe division in 1967.

Ford introduces the F-Series line of trucks, 1949 Ford and Thunderbird

With its first postwar truck design, Ford ceased building trucks on car platforms and

used a purpose-built truck platform instead. The truck was available in eight sizes and weight

ratings, from the ½ ton capacity F-1 to the three-ton capacity F-8. In 1953, Ford replaced the

F-1 with the ½ ton F-100, along with the F-250 ¾

ton trucks and the F-350 one-ton trucks. In 1984,

the F-100 was replaced by the F-150 line of

trucks. Since 1982, F-series has been the best-

selling vehicle in the U.S.The 1949 Ford was the first all-new

American car design to come out of Detroit after

WWII. With its wind tunnel-tested aerodynamic

shape, integrated pontoon fenders, airplane-

inspired spinner grille and an updated V8, the new

car was as radical a change as the 1928 Model A.

The T-Bird emphasized comfort and convenience over sportiness. With its

performance, design and distinctive porthole windows, the car would become a classic.


7/20

Page | 6

Ford begins crash testing its vehicles

The creation of a scientific

laboratory in Dearborn, Michigan in 1951,

doing unfettered basic research, lead to

Ford's unlikely involvement in

superconductivity research. In 1964 Ford

Research Labs made a key breakthrough

with the invention of a superconducting

quantum interference device or SQUID.

Ford offered the Lifeguard safety

package from 1956, which included such

innovations as a standard deep-dish steering wheel, optional front, and, for the first time in a

car, rear seatbelts, and an optional padded dash. Ford introduced child-proof door locks into

its products in 1957, and in the same year offered the first retractable hardtop on a mass- produced six-seater car. The Ford Mustang was introduced in 1964. In 1965 Ford introduced

the seat belt reminder light.

In the 60 years since then, Ford has performed more than 31,000 crash tests around

the world. In recent years Ford has also used virtual crash testing to maximize the quantity

and availability of crash data. In tandem with physical testing, the crash simulations help

Ford gather more data than ever before.

The Ford Mustang goes on sale

The Mustang came to define the pony car class with its combination of a long hood,

short deck, affordable price and customization options. The Mustang was a huge success, and

today it remains one of the fastest-selling vehicles in history. With its role in movies like

Bullitt and songs like "Mustang Sally," the car quickly became a cultural icon as well.

It was originally based on the platform of the second generation North American Ford

Falcon, a compact car. The original Ford Mustang I four-seater concept car had evolved into

the 1963 Mustang II two-seater prototype, which Ford used to pretest how the public would

take interest in the first production Mustang which was released as the 1964 1/2, with a slight

variation on the frontend and a top that was 2.7 inches shorter than the 1963 Mustang II.

Introduced early on April 17, 1964, and thus dubbed as a "1964½" model by Mustang fans,the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A. The

Mustang has undergone several transformations to its current sixth generation.

The Mustang created the

"pony car" class of American

automobiles — sports-car like

coupes with long hoods and short

rear decks and gave rise to

competitors such as the Chevrolet

Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, AMC

Javelin, Chrysler's revamped


8/20

Page | 7

Plymouth Barracuda and the first generation Dodge Challenger. The Mustang is also credited

for inspiring the designs of coupés such as the Toyota Celica and Ford Capri, which were

imported to the United States.

The Mustang made its first public appearance on a racetrack little more than a month

after its April 17 introduction, as pace car for the 1964 Indianapolis 500. The same year,Mustangs achieved the first of many notable competition successes, winning first and second

in class in the Tour de France international rally. The car's American competition debut, also

in 1964, was in drag racing, where private individuals and dealer-sponsored teams

campaigned Mustangs powered by 427 cu. in. V8s.

`In late 1964, Ford contracted Holman & Moody to prepare ten 427-powered

Mustangs to contest the National Hot Rod Association's (NHRA) A/Factory Experimental

class in the 1965 drag racing season. Five of these special Mustangs made their competition

debut at the 1965 NHRA Winternationals, where they qualified in the Factory Stock

Eliminator class. The car driven by Bill Lawton won the class.

Early Mustangs also proved successful in road racing. The GT 350 R, the race version

of the Shelby GT 350, won five of the Sports Car Club of America's (SCCA) six divisions in

1965. Drivers were Jerry Titus, Bob Johnson and Mark Donohue, and Titus won the (SCCA)

B-Production national championship. GT 350s won the B-Production title again in 1966 and

1967. They also won the 1966 manufacturers’ championship in the inaugural SCCA Trans-

Am series, and repeated the win the following year.

In 1969, modified versions of the 428 Mach 1, Boss 429 and Boss 302 took 295

United States Auto Club-certified records at Bonneville Salt Flats. The outing included a 24-

hour run on a 10-mile (16 km) course at an average speed of 157 mph (253 km/h). Drivers

were Mickey Thompson, Danny Ongais, Ray Brock, and Bob Ottum.

Trucks

Ford has produced trucks since 1908, beginning with the Ford Model TT, followed by

the Model AA, and the Model BB. Countries where Ford commercial vehicles are or were

formerly produced include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada (also badged as Mercury),

France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Philippines, Spain (badged Ebro too), Turkey, UK

(badged also Fordson and Thames) and USA.

From the 1940s to late 1970s Ford'sFord F-Series were used as the base for light

trucks for the North American market.

Most of these ventures are now

extinct. The European one that lasted longest

was the lorries arm of Ford of Britain, which

became part of the Iveco group in 1986. Ford

had a minority share in the new company and

Iveco took over sales and production of the

Ford Cargo range. Ford's last significant European truck models were the Transcontinentaland the Cargo.


9/20

Page | 8

Line of heavy trucks made by Ford for the North American market:

Ford F-650 – joint venture model from 2000 to present

Ford L9000 – last model year 1999

Ford LNT9000 – short nose tandem axle from 1970s to 1997Ford LT9000 – tandem axle with last model year 1997

Ford FT900 – until 1998

Ford LT8000 – last model year 1998

Ford L7000 – last model year 1996

Ford continues to manufacture medium duty trucks under the F-650 and F-750

badges. In 2001, the company entered into a joint venture with Navistar International to

produce medium and heavy duty commercial trucks. The first new model from the new

corporation, known as Blue Diamond Truck Company LLC, was the 2006 model year LCF,

the first Ford branded cab-over-engine design in the United States since Freightliner's

acquisition of the Cargo in the mid-1990s. The LCF was discontinued in 2009 and Ford's

2011 medium and heavy-duty commercial offerings are limited to the two F-Series.

In 1999 the end of the F800 indicated Ford was no longer producing in any F-series

heavy truck chassis.

Buses

Ford manufactured complete buses in the

company's early history, but today the role of the

company has changed to that of a second stage

manufacturer. In North America, the E-Series is still

used as a chassis for small school buses and the F-

650 is used in commercial bus markets. In the 1980s

and 1990s, the medium-duty B700 was a popular

chassis used by school bus body manufacturers

including Thomas Built, Ward and Blue Bird, but

Ford lost its market share due to industry contraction

and agreements between body manufacturers.

Prior to 1936, Ford buses were based on truck bodies:

Model B – 1930s

Model T – 1920s

F-105 school bus

In 1936, Ford introduced the Ford Transit Bus, a series of small transit buses with

bodies built by a second party. Originally a front-engine design, it was modified to a rear-

engine design in 1939. About 1,000 to 1,200 of the original design were built, and around

12,500 of the rear-engine design, which was in production until 1947 (rebranded as the

Universal Bus in 1946).


10/20

Page | 9

Recapitalization, restructuring

Ford plunged into a state of brand-fatigue that would bring the company to the point

of near bankruptcy. Following major sales losses in the 2000's, Ford was pinned against the

wall by debts and the imminence of closing down. In April 2000 the Ford Motor Company

announced its recapitalization plan distributing about half of its $24 billion cash hoard, and

paying a $10 billion special dividend, and the issuance of additional stock to the Ford family,

to provide more flexibility for the Ford family in terms of estate planning. In 2000 Ford's

cash hoard was the largest of any company in the world.

In December 2006, Ford announced it would mortgage all assets, including factories

and equipment, office property, intellectual property (patents and blue oval trademarks), and

its stakes in subsidiaries, to raise $23.4 billion in cash. Preferring to make it back on its own,

Ford mortgaged all of its assets in 2006. As of then, the company has releases a variety of

new models both under the Ford brand name and the rest of the sub-brands it owns such as

fresher and edgier Mercuries and flashier Lincolns, Ford's luxury division. Business inEurope has also been good for Ford, especially after the introduction of the Focus model in

1997 and although it hasn't fully recovered, it's definitely on the way to regaining popularity.

At the end of 2012 Ford Motor Company's cash balance was $22.9 billion and was listed as

ten on the list of U.S. non-financial corporation sector's top ten cash kings by Moody's

Investors Service in their March 2013 annual report on Global Credit Research.


11/20

Page | 10

Ford in Europe: The First Hundred Years

While Ford Motor Company was founded in the US and is known throughout the

world as an American brand icon, the company's history in Europe closely parallels its

American heritage; from the arrival of the first Ford cars in Britain in 1903 to the present day

European organization that serves 42 countries across the European continent.

Ford has been a world organisation right from the beginning. Within months of the

foundation of Ford Motor Company in Detroit on 16 June 1903, the first two Ford cars to

reach Europe were being uncrated in London, where they went on show at the March 1904

Cordingley Automobile Show in the Agricultural Hall, Islington.

They caught the eye of a young man named Aubrey Blakiston, who set up a sales

agency, ordered a dozen Model A Fords and took a lease on a showroom in Long Acre, a

London centre of the coachbuilding and motor trade.

Sales were slow – it took a year to sell those twelve cars – but the agency took on a young―motor expert‖ named Percival Perry, who was to play a key role in the establishment of Ford

in Europe.

In those early days France – home of Europe’s biggest motor industry – seemed the

best place from which to coordinate European business, and in fact one of the earliest sales of

a Ford automobile was made there early in 1904. So in 1908 a Paris Branch Company was set

up to supervise European sales, under an American named H.Baker White. The importance of

his appointment was reflected in the size of his salary, a then-colossal $24,000, equivalent to

around $1.5 million in modern terms.

Manufacturing Operations are soon Established

But the powerhouse of Ford’s early European operations turned out to be Britain,

where Percival Perry had taken over the sales agency and sales were booming following the

launch of the competitively-priced four-cylinder Model N in 1906. In 1909 a British branch

company was set up under Perry’s management, and the strength of the market led to the

opening late in October 1911 of Ford’s first factory outside North America, at Trafford Park,

Manchester.

A couple of years later, assembly started in premises in Bordeaux, initially run by the

leading French agent, but soon taken over by Ford Motor Company.During the First World War Perry, who had been appointed Assistant Controller of

the UK government's Agricultural Machinery Department, persuaded Henry Ford to build a

tractor plant (the first purpose- built Ford factory in the Old World) not far from his father’s

birthplace at Cork, Ireland. The first Fordson tractor left the assembly line on 3 July 1919.

Uniquely, Ford Ireland was a private venture of the Ford family until 1920.

Model T drives European Expansion

Henry Ford’s vision of the Model T as the Universal Car gave his company an

immense advantage. The Model T was the first automobile to be conceived as a true 'World'car, and a string of European plants and national sales companies controlled from Detroit


12/20

Page | 11

were established in the early 1920s to support its runaway success. Apart from minor

differences of paint and trim to meet national preferences, the end product was identical in

every market.

The first European assembly plant of this postwar expansion was in Copenhagen,

where Ford Denmark was founded on 25 June 1919. Henry Ford’s most trusted productionassociates, William Knudsen and Charles Sorensen, were both Danes, and it was Knudsen

who shaped the expansion of Ford across Europe in the early 1920s while Sorensen turned

down a proposal for a joint venture in France from the ambitious André Citroën.

Anxious to open a plant to serve southern Europe, Ford proposed building a new factory at

Bordeaux, but the French authorities proved uncooperative and so an assembly plant was

opened in a former wine bodega in the free zone at Cadiz, Spain

One of the most remarkable Ford factories was established in a former warehouse in

Trieste, Northern Italy in 1922. During the 1920s, it had a 75 per cent share of a market

covering 36 countries on three continents, including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia,

Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Surprisingly Germany, where the first practical motor car had been invented in the

1880s, came late in Ford’s European scheme of things, and the first German Ford company

was not established until 1925, starting assembly in a rented canalside warehouse in Berlin in

1926. The Berlin operation was set up by Ford Denmark staff from Copenhagen, and while

the chief clerk, who effectively ran the business, could read German, he was initially unable

to speak the language!

Life after the Model T

Until late 1927 the European operation was based on the Model T which, while cheap

to buy, was taxed heavily on engine capacity in European markets, and from being the

world’s best-selling car, Model Ts' sales faltered as other mass-producers offered smaller,

lighter, faster cars which were more attractive to the general public. The launch of the all-new

and thoroughly modern Model A for 1928 was accompanied by a complete rethink of how

Ford did business in Europe.

Henry Ford had split his European interests after the war into twelve separate

companies, but, as the 1920s developed, he recognized the need to coordinate these

companies to make the European business more effective – a move that showed great

foresight, when set against the way modern pan European companies are run.The basis of the strategy was the centralization of Ford’s European activities in England and

the formation of a new company, Ford Motor Company Limited to serve this purpose. At the

heart of the ―1928 Plan‖ was a new factory - ―the Detroit of Europe‖ - to be built on

reclaimed marshland at Dagenham in the UK, as the hub of Ford’s European activities. Built

at the then immense cost of £5 million, the new Dagenham plant built its first vehicle, a

Model AA truck, on 1 October 1931.

But since the inauguration of the plant site in May 1929 the world had been plunged

into depression. Demand for the Model A car, which though cheap to buy was relatively

expensive to tax and run, plummeted. In its first three months of operation, Dagenham sold


13/20

Page | 12

just five Model A cars and the new Ford of Britain company was faced with ruin, kept going

only by sales of commercial vehicles.

Europe’s flagging fortunes were boosted by the introduction of the first Ford specifically

designed for Europe, the 933cc Model Y. Designed inside five months, the Model Y was

shown in prototype form at special Ford motor shows across Europe, starting with FordBritain’s one-make exhibition at the Albert Hall, London, in February 1932. By August it

was in production.

Ten months from drawing board to full production was a remarkable achievement, but the

situation was desperate.

Ford Europe makes its debut

Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 on the merger of the British and German

divisions of the Ford Motor Company. The front-engined Ford Transit range of panel vans

launched in 1965, was the first formal co-operation between the two entities, simultaneouslydeveloped to replace the German Ford Taunus Transit and the British Ford Thames 400E.

Prior to this, the two companies avoided marketing their vehicles in one another's domestic

markets, and in much of the rest of western Europe were direct competitors, with totally

separate product lines, despite being owned by the same American parent, in a similar

manner to General Motors’ Opel and Vauxhall subsidiaries at the same time - indeed GM

followed Ford's precedent in the 1970s by merging the operations of Opel and Vauxhall into

General Motors Europe.

1967 – 1973: Cortina and Escort

The first new model launched after the creation of Ford of Europe was the Escort built

in England from October 1967, and launched to market later that year. The Escort was a rear-

wheel drive small family saloon that took

the place of the British Anglia range and

was built in both Britain and, from 1970,

Germany.

It was first available as a two-door

saloon and later in estate, van and four-

door saloon bodystyles. Power came from950 cc, 1100 cc and 1300 cc petrol

engines. Later there was also a 2000 cc

unit which came in the RS2000

performance version and was capable of

110 mph (180 km/h). It quickly became popular with buyers, outselling in the UK key

competitors from BMC (later British Leyland), Vauxhall (Opel in Germany) and the Rootes

Group. The Escort would never achieve such dominance in Europe's largest auto market, but

nevertheless took significant market share from the Opel and Volkswagen competitors of the

time.

Ford Europe's second new car launch was the Capri sporting coupé in 1969. Loosely

based on Ford UK's rear-wheel drive Mk II Cortina platform, it came with engines ranging


14/20

Page | 13

from 1300 cc to 3000 cc and was made in Britain and Germany (with a different range of

German V4 and V6 engines), and quickly became popular with buyers who wanted

something different from BMC's MGB GT and the Rootes Group's Sunbeam Alpine.

August 1970 saw the launch of the British Ford Cortina Mk III and its German cousin, a the

Taunus (replacing the Taunus 12M & 15M). The British and German models were based onthe same platform, but had different sheet metal and used engines from their home countries,

though both models could be had with the new German-built 2000cc OHC petrol engine. By

1972 the Cortina was the best-selling car in Britain.

1974 – 1980: MK 2 Escort and New Fiesta

A revised Capri II arrived in early 1974, which saw a hatchback replacing the

traditional "boot".

Ford launched a Ford Escort (Europe) at the start of 1975, with a heavily restyled

exterior and a less cramped interior, but an almost identical mechanical design. The entry-level 950 cc engine, which was rare in any country, was discontinued.

In 1975, Ford overtook British Leyland (the combine which included Austin, Morris

and Rover) as the most popular make of car in the United Kingdom.

1976 saw Ford Europe enter the mini-car market with its first ever-front model to

have a hatchback and front-wheel drive. The Fiesta MK1 was built at the company's new

Valencia plant in Spain, and came with 950 cc, 1100 cc and 1300 cc petrol engines. It was

later available with a 1600 cc unit for the sporty XR2 version.

Britain and most of the rest of

Europe took to it straight away and it was

quickly among the best-selling cars in

most of the continent, fighting off

competition from the Volkswagen Polo,

Citroën Visa, Vauxhall Chevette and

Peugeot 104.

1976 also saw the launch of the Cortina

MK4 and Taunus, that continued to top

the sales charts in Britain and fight off

competition from a growing number of

equally competent rivals, namely theVauxhall Cavalier/Opel Ascona and

Chrysler Alpine.

Ford launched the Mk II Granada range in September 1977. In 1976, all Granada

production had been concentrated to Cologne, Germany. The Consul badge was abandoned in

1975. The Mk III Capri sporting coupé arrived in 1978. By now Capri production was also

concentrated at Cologne.


15/20

Page | 14

1981 – 1989: Breaking new ground

The 1980s saw a radical change in most of the European Fords, which had begun in

1980 when the Escort switched to front-wheel drive and a hatchback from the traditional rear-

wheel drive saloon.20 years of Cortina production came to an end in October 1982 with the

launch of the new Sierra. The new car retained the traditional rear-wheel drive chassis,

perhaps surprisingly at the time when front-wheel drive was becoming almost exclusive in

this sector of car. But in place of its

predecessor's conventional, square

styling was the Sierra's ultramodern

aerodynamic styling that was way ahead

of its time compared to the competition.

Ford launched another ground-

breaking new car in May 1985 with the

Granada-replacing Scorpio – althoughthe Granada name was retained in the

United Kingdom and Ireland – "Scorpio"

being used as a sub-brand for the highest

specification models. It was based on a

stretched version of the Sierra's rear-

wheel drive chassis, and was far more modern looking than any other cars in its sector at this

time, being similar in appearance to the smaller Sierra. It was also the world's first volume

production car to feature anti-lock brakes as standard. High equipment levels, a comfortable

interior and solid build quality ensured that the German-built Scorpio was a success all overEurope, and was voted European Car of the Year for 1986.

An updated Escort and Orion appeared in February 1986 – often erroneously called

the "Mark 4", it featured Scorpio-influenced front end styling, revised engine options and an

all-new interior.

Production of the sporty Capri coupé ended in December 1986 after 17 years and

there was no replacement, as sporting coupés were less popular at this time following the rise

in popularity of fast hatchbacks such as the Ford Escort XR3i, Vauxhall Astra GTE, Peugeot

309 GTI and Volkswagen Golf GTI. Ford had proved successful in this sector with faster

versions of the Fiesta, Escort and Sierra.

For much of the 1980s, the Ford Escort was the most popular model of car in the

world, and from 1982 to 1989 it was the best selling new car in the UK every year. Despite a

facelift in March 1986, it was started to look a little dated by the end of the decade in the face

of newer rivals like the Rover 200, Peugeot 309, Fiat Tipo and Renault 19.


16/20

Page | 15

1990 – 1997: Driven by you

The fifth generation Escort was launched in September 1990, along with the Orion

saloon, but the motoring public and press gave it mixed views. The car's styling lacked the

flair of some rivals, and its driving experience was hardly the last word in excitement. The

standard Escort models were later joined by the RS2000 and RS Cosworth performance

versions that attracted a much more positive reaction.

Ford responded to criticism of the Escort's shortcomings in September 1992 with a

minor facelift which saw the introduction of impressive new 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 Zetec 16-valve

units, the latter of which also found its

way into the Fiesta RS1800. The Orion

also received similar improvements, only

for the name to be shelved a year later

and the saloon models absorbed into the

Escort range.For 1993, Ford introduced a

standard driver's airbag on all production

models, with many cars also coming with

a passenger airbag as either standard or optional equipment.

February 1993 saw Ford launch a ground-breaking new family car in the shape of the

Mondeo – replacement for the Sierra made to rival the newer Opel Vectra/Vauxhall Cavalier,

Peugeot 405 and Nissan Primera. Finally making the transition to front-wheel drive, the

Mondeo came with a strong range of 16-valve Zetec petrol engines as well as a 2.5 V6 that

joined the line-up in 1994. Hatchback, saloon and estate versions made up the range whichwon European Car of the Year accolade later the year.

1995 saw Ford update its Fiesta and Escort ranges to keep them on the pace with the

ever-growing number of new rivals that were threatening to decimate Ford's market share.

Another new car launch that year was the Galaxy multi-purpose vehicle, which quickly went

straight to the top of the people carrier sales charts.

Ford entered the city car market in 1996 with its oddly-named and oddly-styled Ka,

and was beaten into second place in the 1997 European Car of the Year award by the Renault

Scenic. It made use of the Fiesta's chassis and 1300 cc petrol engine, which gave it strong

handling for such a small car. Around the same time, the Mondeo gained a facelift which saw

the exterior styling brought up to date and the seating re-designed to improve space for rear

seat passengers.


17/20

Page | 16

1998 – 2003: New Edge design

In the late 1990s, Ford adopted a distinctive "New Edge" design on its model range.

Some of the cars adopting this eye-catching new look were entirely new, while others were

facelifted versions of earlier and more conservative designs.

The end was in sight for the Escort in 1998 when its distinctively-styled successor, the

Focus, went on sale. Its radical design meant that Ford kept the Escort on sale alongside it for

two years, giving buyers a more conventionally-styled alternative, perhaps in fear of a repeat

of the controversy it had faced some 15 years

earlier when the Sierra was first on sale. But

Ford need not have worried about the public's

reaction to the new Focus, which was

European Car of the Year for 1999 and one of

the best selling cars in the continent. At the

height of its production there was a new FordFocus coming off a production line at an

average of one every 12 seconds (Saarlouis,

Germany; Valencia, Spain; Wayne, Michigan

USA; Hermosillo, Mexico). However, the

Focus was never built in Britain. The aging Fiesta received its second facelift in the autumn of 1999, and continued to

attract huge sales thanks to its excellent ride and handling that disguised its age well. The

interior was, by now, one of the smartest in the supermini sector, though interior space –

particularly in the back – was far from the best. This shortcoming was solved at the start of2002 when the all-new Fiesta went on sale. In addition, Ford's Halewood plant was converted

for Jaguar X-Type assembly in 2001. Ford also continued to build vans at its Southampton

plant until relocating production to Turkey in 2013.

The Ford Mondeo was relaunched in an all-new format at the end of 2000, and was

pipped for the European Car of the Year award by the Alfa Romeo 147. The new Mondeo

was more competitively priced than its predecessor, but its real strengths were its excellent

accommodation and driving experience which put it back on top of the large family car

sector. Although demand for cars of this size dipped slightly across Europe during the 2000s

(decade), the Mondeo remained Britain's most popular large family car, until 2007, when it

was outsold by the facelifted Vauxhall Vectra. Ford entered the expanding compact MPV

market in late 2003 with the Ford Focus C-Max, which was – unusually – the first car on the

platform that would spawn the next generation Focus hatchback a year later.


18/20

Page | 17

2004 – present: Kinetic Design

The second generation Focus

hatchback, saloon and estate ranges

went on sale in December 2004,

picking up where the old model left off.

Excellent ride and handling, good

equipment levels, solid build quality

and a comfortable interior all won

praise for those who experienced the

new car. The only major criticism of

the Focus was its unoriginal style

which differed little from that of its

predecessor. It remained one of the most popular cars in Europe during a production life

which lasted more than six years.2006 saw Ford launch two new people carriers – the S-MAX and the Galaxy MK2. The S-MAX then became the first full-size people carrier to be

voted European Car of the Year.

Ford launched a third generation Mondeo in 2007, and new versions of the Fiesta and Ka in

2008.

In 2005, Ford celebrated its 30th anniversary as Britain's most popular car brand. The

Focus was the country's top selling car, while the Fiesta occupied fifth place and the Mondeo

ninth. In spite of this, the gap between Ford and its competitors was about as narrow as it had

ever been, with Vauxhall and Renault just a short margin behind Ford in sales figures.

In 2008, Ford acquired a majority stake in Automobile Craiova, Romania. Ford TransitConnect is Ford's first model produced in Craiova, and, in 2012, will be followed by a new

small class car, the B-MAX, and a small displacement, advanced petrol engine.

The first major car launch by Ford for the 2010s was the third generation Focus in the

spring of 2011. For Europe, the Focus featured a lesser model range than its predecessors,

with only a five-door hatchback and five-door estate being sold; there were no saloon or

three-door hatchback versions. The larger Mondeo had been facelifted the previous autumn,

but this did little to halt dwindling sales over the next three years.

Trucks

The Commercial vehicles arm of Ford of Britain, was part of the operation until it was sold to

Fiat's Iveco division in 1986. Its last significant models under Ford ownership were the

Transcontinental and the Cargo. Ford has planned to build the European version F-Series

pick-up trucks in Germany for the European market.

Tractors

The Production of tractors in Europe by Ford has ceased following the sale of the division to

Fiat in 1993 and the name changed from Ford New Holland to New Holland. New Holland

Ag is now part of CNH Global. Tractor production had been based at the Antwerp andBasildon factories.


19/20

Page | 18

Conclusion

Ford is one of the largest automotive manufacturers in the world, along the more than

100 years of existence the company has made numerous improvements this market. Throughits models, but also by the technologies developed Ford managed to capture public attention

not just in the US but also to Europe and in the world.

Throughout its history, the company has faced a wide range of criticisms but in the

end the company has not lost confidence of buyers. Some have accused the early Fordist

model of production of being exploitative, and Ford has been criticized as being willing to

collaborate with dictatorships or hire mobs to intimidate union leaders and increase their

profits through unethical means. Ford was also criticized for tread separation and tire

disintegration of many Firestone tires installed on Ford Explorers, Mercury Mountaineers,

and Mazda Navajos, which caused many crashes during the late 1990s and early 2000s(decade). It is estimated that over 250 deaths and more than 3,000 serious injuries resulted

from these failures. Although Firestone received most of the blame, some blame fell on Ford,

which advised customers to under-inflate the tires in order to reduce the risk of vehicle

rollovers.

To conclude, I strongly believe that Ford has had a fundamental role in the

development of Global automotive industry. Their legacy and influence throughout the years

proves that this company will be cherished regardless of future changes.


20/20

Page | 19

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Motor_Company#Products_and_services

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ford_Motor_Company#Post-

World_War_I_developments

http://www.autoevolution.com/ford/history/

https://corporate.ford.com/company/history.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-graham-richard/the-split-personalities-

o_b_115026.html

Date post:	01-Jun-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	vlad-matei
View:	218 times
Download:	0 times

Split Personalities of Ford

Documents