Ford

The great story of a global brand

Henry Ford, born on July 30, 1863 in Michigan/USA, after his apprenticeship as a machinist and a job as an engineer (later chief engineer) made the leap into independence and founded the Detroit Automobile Company in 1899. Until 1908 he and his company experienced a lot but then the success story was started. To meet the high demand, Ford perfected a brand new technique of assembly line production by 1913. This reduced the time it took to assemble a chassis from an initial twelve hours to 1.5 hours. By 1908, half of all motorists in the U.S. owned the "Model T." By the time the production ended in 1927, some 15 million "Tin Lizzy" cars had been manufactured. In 1953, the Transit van was introduced for the first time. After crisis years 1989-2008, the group completed its 350 millionth car, a red Ford Focus, on August 31, 2012. The company logo features the white curved lettering "Ford" on a blue ellipse-shaped background.

The versatile vehicle production

Ford has manufactured almost all vehicle types and classes. In the commercial vehicle sector, the Transit Courier and the Transit Connect are among the best-known current models. The passenger car range is much more extensive. It starts with the smallest cars (Ford Ka) and the compact cars (Fiesta in various generations), continues through the minivan and compact class segment (B-Max, Escort, Orion, Focus) and the middle class (Taunus, Sierra, Mondeo) and ends with the upper middle class (Granada, Scorpio). Ford also offers high-roof station wagons such as the Tourneo as well as compact vans and MPVs (Galaxy, C-Max, Grand C-Max, S-Max). The brand also has a strong presence in the SUV segment, as impressively demonstrated by the EcoSport, Kuga and Edge models. As a sports coupe, the Mustang is also right at the top of the popularity scale. It founded the class of pony cars introduced in 1964, which stood out for their long hoods and voluminous V8 engines and still do today. Simply a wealth of possibilities.