Henry Ford started the company in 1902 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, among which were John and Horace Dodge, who would later found the Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicle Company. He was 40 years when he first established the company's first factory on Bagley Street, Detroit.
He would later incorporate the firm on June 16, 1903. 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's last 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.
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.
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 in Europe 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. |
