Ford Motor Company is one of the major American automobile manufacturers, founded in 1903 by Henry Ford, and is based in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford manufactures a wide range of cars, commercial vehicles, trucks and even a variety of luxury cars. The second largest carmaker in the US, the fifth largest in the world, the company has also made significant investments in museums and charitable organizations.
In the factory's early days, it produced only a few cars a day, but Ford refined and expanded the assembly line technique and the innovative vertical in-house integration system that helped make the company an industry leader. Continuing to be an innovator, Ford introduced the Model A in 1930, the deep disk steering wheel, seat belts, the padded dash board and child-proof door locks for safety and the retractable hardtop by 1957. The company also helped push plug-in hybrid technology and the Hydrogen fuel-cell forward during the late 2000s as well.
Surviving the Great Depression and acquiring Jaguar and Aston Martin in 1990 and 1994, the company began to struggle during the mid 2000s. Slimming down and making processes more efficient and exchanging debt for equity, Ford turned itself around to once again become productive. During that process, the company did not take the US Government bailout, as well as sold Land Rover and Jaguar to Tata Motors. Releasing a variety of new vehicles, plug-in hybrids and crossover SUVs, along with smaller cars like the Focus and Escape, and expansions of the Lincoln luxury brand all helped further Ford's recovery, to the point where it was rated investment worthy again in 2012. |
