One thing for sure is that you can’t miss a FORD vehicle on or off-road. Undeniably, FORD has been here for a long time, counting even decades in the industry. It’s popular for making typical cars, SUVs, and even trucks.
A great number of positive reviews put FORD ahead of its game by making reliable motors. As an American industry, it manufactures strong, durable vehicles and delivers impressive performance anywhere you want them.
While this brand still stands out among its competition, most people don’t know what FORD means and originates from. See below for a detailed explanation of this unique motor brand.
FORD Surname Meaning and Origin
The internet does not give FORD a definite meaning but instead gives meanings for several ‘FORD slangs.’ Most people take it as an acronym for a specific term.
FORD is not an abbreviation for the motor company brand. However, it’s a name after its creator Henry Ford made the first FORD vehicle in 1908.
As a motor engineer, Henry Ford established the Ford Motor Company on June 16th, 1903, with just $28000. This amount was equivalent to $807,000 in 2020, where twelve other investors joined, like the renowned John and Horace Dodge, who later formed their own automobile company.
Even though Henry Ford was the founder, he was not the company’s first president. John S. Gray, a local banker, became the first president who would ease the doubts and fears of the investors.
In the beginning, FORD only created a few cars daily at its first factory on Mack Avenue; then, it graduated to another factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. In these factories, 2-3 men worked on every car. They assembled the parts from supplier companies for FORD on contract.
By the end of a decade, the company was in charge of the world’s growth and improvement of the assembly line model. Thanks to FORD’s ideas, most in-house automobile productions were effective.
At 39 years old, Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company, becoming the largest, leading, and profitable company. Better yet, for over 100 years, the Ford family has been controlling their company, making it the largest family-controlled company worldwide.
Built for excellence, the first FORD model encompassed the brand ever since. The headquarters of FORD is in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. You can check out more FORD truck profiles in the Ford truck forum.
FORD Subsidiaries
Aside from selling commercial vehicles and other automobiles, it also owns luxury cars branded Lincoln. What’s more?
Ford also owns Troller, a Brazilian SUV manufacturer, 32% of Jiangling Motors and 8% shares UK’s Aston Martin. Still, it has a joint partnership in China’s Changan Ford, Taiwan’s Ford Lio Ho, AutoAlliance Thailand, Ford Sollers in Russia, and Turkey’s Ford Otosan.
Because FORD is a successful family motor company, it is on the New York Stock Exchange. However, the family owns minority shares but has the most power in controlling the voting of leadership in the company.
Ford introduced Fordism. Fordism is the massive manufacturing of cars and extensive management of an industrial team. They used complex engineered production systems characterized by assembly lines in motion. Because of the effectiveness of this method, Fordism became popular worldwide by 1914.
Also, in 2008 FORD sold its UK companies Jaguar and Land Rover bought in 1989 and 2000 respectively to Tata Motors and Indian motor company.
Volvo, the Swedish automaker, was also a subsidiary of FORD from 1999 to 2010. After marketing new luxury cars in 1938 in countries like Canada, the US, the Middle East, and Mexico, Ford stopped the Mercury brand in 2011.
In General Motors, Ford comes second in U.S.-based automaker. Also, it’s fifth-largest globally behind gig manufacturers like Hyundai, Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors according to the 2015 models vehicle production.
By 2010, Ford had secured the fifth position as the largest automaker in Europe. Moreover, in 1956 FORD opened its doors for other investors; however, the Ford family still retained 40% shares and voting rights.
Unfortunately, the beginning of the 21st century welcomed a financial crisis for the motor company reaching a point of collapse. But, President George W. Bush came to the rescue offering an emergency financial rescue. Also, General Motors and Chrysler LLC joined to help Ford Motors by making an instant contribution of $13.4 billion to the automaker.
Remarkably, Ford Motors rose again to profitability and even made eleventh overall American-based company in the Fortune 500 list as per the universal returns in 2017 of $156.7 billion. Because of the steady and great progress, Ford had an amazing 2008 where it made 5.532 million automobiles and hired nearly 213,000 employees in their 90 plants and amenities globally.
Memorable Slogan- Built Ford Tough
“Built Ford Tough” has been a popular motto for a long time. Usually, it boasts about the most popular American car and truck Ford F-Series.
Since 1979, this slogan has continued to grow stronger ahead of the competition from other automobiles. Because of this reason, there are no plans to do away with this slogan since it’s been a great marketing strategy for selling millions of trucks. Besides, it wasn’t meant for advertising.
When Ford advertisers settled on this sample slogan, “Built Ford Tough,” they were completely clueless of the success they would gain afterward. FORD gained billions of profits for only three little words, making the motor company rise to new heights above its competition.
One thing that makes the slogan stand out is that it talks about qualities of what the company aims to achieve in its products. Most importantly, “Built Ford Tough” remained active for a long time despite any criticism. This bore fruits leading to the F-Series becoming the most prosperous pickup truck of all time—without any doubts.
Noticeably, Chevy and Dodge competition companies were relentlessly on the verge of keeping up, but “Built Ford Tough” persisted. Right now, this slogan is famous.
Undeniably, Ford has had other slogans for advertising like “Built for the Road Ahead,” “Go Further,” and “You drive everything We Do.” But “Built Ford Tough” is the pillar, similar to their flagship tagline, custom-made precisely to their flagship truck.
FORD is undoubtedly a motor company that is here to stay.
