Land Rover
Land Rover is a luxury car brand that specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India's Tata Motors since 2008. The Land Rover is regarded as a British icon, was granted a Royal Warrant by King George VI in 1951; the Land Rover name was used by the Rover Company for the Land Rover Series, launched in 1948. It developed into a brand encompassing a range of four-wheel-drive models, including the Defender, Freelander, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Evoque. Land Rovers are assembled in England, India and other markets; the design for the original vehicle was started in 1947 by Maurice Wilks. It was called Land Rover. Wilks, chief designer at the Rover Company, on his farm in Newborough, working in conjunction with his brother Spencer, the managing director of Rover; the design may have been influenced by the Jeep and the prototype nicknamed Centre Steer, was built on a Jeep chassis and axles. The early choice of colour was dictated by military surplus supplies of aircraft cockpit paint, so early vehicles only came in various shades of light green.
Early vehicles like the Series I were field-tested at Long Bennington and designed to be field-serviced. Land Rover as a company has existed since 1978. Prior to this, it was a product line of the Rover Company, subsequently absorbed into the Rover-Triumph division of the British Leyland Motor Corporation following Leyland Motor Corporation’s takeover of Rover in 1967; the ongoing commercial success of the original Land Rover series models, latterly the Range Rover in the 1970s in the midst of BL's well-documented business troubles prompted the establishment of a separate Land Rover company but still under the BL umbrella, remaining part of the subsequent Rover Group in 1988, under the ownership of British Aerospace after the remains of British Leyland were broken up and privatised. In 1994 Rover Group plc, including Land Rover, was acquired by BMW. In 2000, Rover Group was broken up by BMW and Land Rover was sold to Ford Motor Company, becoming part of its Premier Automotive Group. In 2006 Ford purchased the Rover brand from BMW for around £6 million.
BMW had retained ownership of the brand to protect the integrity of the Land Rover brand, with which'Rover' might be confused in the US 4x4 market and allowed it to be used under licence by MG Rover until it collapsed in 2005, at which point it was offered to the Ford Motor Company, who by owned Land Rover. On 11 June 2007, Ford announced. Private equity firms such as Alchemy Partners of the UK, TPG Capital, Ripplewood Holdings, Cerberus Capital Management and One Equity Partners of the US, Tata Motors of India and a consortium comprising Mahindra & Mahindra of India and Apollo Management all expressed interest in purchasing the marques from the Ford Motor Company. On 1 January 2008, Ford formally declared. In 2008, On 26 March 2008, Ford announced that it had agreed to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors, that it expected to complete the sale by the end of the second quarter of 2008. On 18 January 2008, Tata Motors, a part of the Tata Group, established Jaguar Land Rover Limited as a British-registered and wholly owned subsidiary.
The new company was to be used as a holding company for the acquisition of the two businesses from Ford - Jaguar Cars Limited and Land Rover. That acquisition was completed on 2 June 2008 at a cost of £1.7 billion. Included in the deal to buy Land Rover and Jaguar Cars were the rights to three other British brands: the Daimler marque, as well as two dormant brands Lanchester and Rover. On 1 January 2013, the group, operating as two separate companies, although on an integrated basis, underwent a fundamental restructuring; the parent company was renamed to Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC, Jaguar Cars Limited was renamed to Jaguar Land Rover Limited and the assets of Land Rover were transferred to it. The consequence was that Jaguar Land Rover Limited became responsible in the UK for the design and marketing of both Jaguar and Land Rover branded products, Land Rover and Jaguar Cars ceased to be separate vehicle producing entities. 1947: Rover's chief designer Maurice Wilks and his associates create a prototype using Jeep chassis and components 1948: The first Land Rover was launched 30 April 1948, at the Amsterdam Motor Show 1958: Series II launched 1961: Series IIA began production 1967: Rover becomes part of Leyland Motors British Leyland as Rover Triumph 1970: Introduction of the Range Rover 1971: Series III launched 1974: Land Rover abandons US market facing competitive pressure from Japanese 4x4 brands 1975: BL collapses and is nationalised, publication of the Ryder Report recommends that Land Rover be split from Rover and be treated as a separate company within BL and becomes part of the new commercial vehicle division called the Land Rover Leyland Group 1976: One-millionth Land Rover leaves the production line 1978: Land Rover Limited formed as a separate subsidiary of British Leyland 1980: Rover car production ends at Solihull with the transfer of SD1 production to Cowley, Oxford.
5-door Range Rover introduced 1983: Land Rover 90 /110 /127 introduced 1986: BL plc becomes Rover Group plc.
Marshall, Sons & Co.
Marshall, Sons & Co. was a British agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in 1848. The company was based in the Britannia Iron Works, Lincolnshire. Early production was of agricultural machinery. Production included diesel tractors such as the Field Marshall, Track Marshall and former Leyland wheeled tractors. In 1842 William Marshall bought the defunct engineering works of William Garland and Son at Back Street Foundry in Gainsborough. In 1849 he began to produce road steam engines. In 1857 his son James Marshall become a partner and the company name was changed to William Marshall and Son. In 1861 another son, Henry Dickenson Marshall, became a partner. William Marshall died in 1861 and his two sons continued the business, it was incorporated as a limited company in 1862. Marshall's produced large numbers of steam traction engines, steam rollers, portable engines and agricultural machinery of all types. In 1900 they started designing internal combustion-engined tractors to be called the Colonials, with a power of 16 to 32 hp for the export market to replace steam engines, selling 300+ by 1914.
In 1928 they started to develop a tractor similar to the Lanz Bulldog from Germany. They launched the 15/30 in 1930, followed by the 12/20 which became the Model M in 1938. In 1917 the company started to build aircraft at a new works built for the purpose on Lea Road in Gainsborough; the works became known as the Carr House works and the company built 150 Bristol F2B two-seat biplane fighters. When the aircraft were completed they were dismantled and towed to West Common in Lincoln to be flown, although some were flown from Layne's Field in Gainsborough. Marshall, Sons & Co. Ltd. merged with John Co.. Ltd in 1947 to form Marshall-Fowler Ltd, which became part of the Bentall Simplex industrial group; the Marshall name was revived in the 1980s with the'Track Marshall' name building large tracked tractors and bulldozers. In 1982 the company bought the production rights to the Leyland tractors range, moving production to Gainsborough and selling them under the Marshall name. Successful, the venture failed to generate enough capital to fund the successful development of new models and the company began to lose its market share.
A few new, technologically advanced, models were launched but failed to find favour and Marshall was forced to stop production in 1992. Models included the 502, 602, 604, 702, 704, 802, 804 and 904XL; these were rebadged Leyland tractors. The newer models were the: 132, 100, 115 and 125. Marshall imported and rebadged and repainted Steyr tractors from Austria; the name was used as a badge engineering exercise on imported Steyr tractors from Austria, before the marque vanished in the mid-1990s. There is now a shopping centre standing on part of the former Britannia Iron Works site. Marshall, Sons and Co. built the boiler for the Fairbairn steam crane which stands on the dockside in Bristol. The maker's plate reads "Marshall Sons & Co. Ltd. Engineers, England, No.92766". What is thought to be one of the oldest surviving Marshall product, works no. 415, a 2.5nhp portable engine from 1866, may be seen at the Turon Technology Museum, in New South Wales, Australia. This engine is the oldest documented portable engine in Australia.
In Australia, another Marshall steam engine is still working powering the paddle steamer PS Pevensey on tourist trips along the Murray River in Echuca, Victoria The Pallot Steam Museum at Trinity in Jersey UK has four Marshall models on display, two of them are restored in great working order which are roadrollers, one large Compound 12 Ton model built in 1922 and another model a smaller Compound 8 Ton made in 1925 the remaining other two are awaiting restoration each, a green 1916 steam roller model and another similar model a 1928 brown one parked in the museum backyard, awaiting repairs by the museum owner Sam Pallot with his team of engineers and mechanics. The Weald and Downland Museum in Singleton, West Sussex, England has a Marshall Threshing Drum which dates from 1862; the oldest existing Marshall Traction Engine supplied to the British Market is number 14242, Victoria Empress of India, built in September 1886 and supplied new to Walter Seward of Petersfield, England. Marshall engine 46583 stands derelict outside at the Gorreana tea plantation on the island of São Miguel in the Azores.
Marshall tea processing machinery - some of it still in use - can be found here and at the nearby Porto Formoso tea plantation. In Larnaca, Cyprus one portable engine—stamped 1943—stands in public, in a courtyard off King Paul Square. Competitors in the agricultural machinery market: Ruston & Hornsby Ruston and Company Clayton & Shuttleworth William Foster & Co. John Fowler & Co. – taken over by Marshall Aveling-Barford – Steam roller & road roller builders part-merged with Marshalls under British Leyland control. Leyland tractors – Later became Marshall Tractors in the old Marshall, Sons & Co. factory History of Marshall, Sons & Co. from Grace's Guide Marshall Britannia portable steam engine, 1914 – at the Powerhouse Museum, Australia
Austin Maestro
The Austin Maestro is a five-door hatchback small family car, produced from 1982 to 1987 by British Leyland, from 1988 until 1994 by Rover Group. The car was produced at Morris' former Oxford plant known as Cowley. Today, the redeveloped factory produces the BMW Mini. An MG-branded performance version was sold as the MG Maestro from 1983 until 1991. Although models were sometimes referred to as the Rover Maestro, the model never wore the Rover badge. A three-box car, the Montego, was a derivative of the Maestro. British Leyland was created in 1975 when the bankrupt British Leyland Motor Corporation was nationalised. In 1977 the South African-born corporate troubleshooter, Michael Edwardes, was recruited as chairman to sort out the troubled firm. Part of Edwardes' plan was to introduce a new range of mass-market models to replace the current offerings and built using state-of-the-art technology; the new range decided upon consisted of a new vehicle for each of the small, lower-medium and upper-medium market segments.
The first of these cars to be launched was the Austin Metro in 1980. The new cars for the lower and upper medium segments were to share a platform, with various trim and styling differences to distinguish the two different models; the two models would in effect replace four existing vehicles in the British Leyland range – the Maestro would replace both the Austin Allegro and Maxi, whilst the Montego replaced the Austin Ambassador and Morris Ital, these latter two having been recent facelifts of the Princess and Morris Marina. Since all but the Allegro were made at the Cowley plant, this rationalization would give the cost benefits of production automation and flexibility; this common platform was given the project name LC10. Preliminary design work for LC10 began in 1977, with production scheduled to begin around 1980 - which would have seen it go on sale around the same time as the Ford Escort MK3 and the original Vauxhall Astra. LC10 was styled by Ian Beech under the direction of BL designer David Bache.
Two main body variations were provided: a five-door hatchback and a four-door notchback. It was a departure from previous front-wheel drive cars from the company in dispensing with the famous Issigonis transmission-in-sump powertrain, pioneered in the Mini. Coupled to the A- and R-series powerplants was an end-on transmission, bought from Volkswagen; the sophisticated Hydragas suspension system used on previous BL models was sacrificed on cost grounds, with a conventional MacPherson strut system at the front and a Volkswagen Golf-style torsion beam at the rear being used instead - but with long travel rising rate springs. While easier to build, this suspension did compromise load space. Prototypes were tested with actual Golf suspension components; this may have led to the early cars being prone to front wheel bearing issues. The Maestro was heavier than the first VW Golf, it was decided. It was given its own project designation, LM10, with this version to be launched as the Austin Maestro; the name "Maestro" had been a finalist when the Austin Metro was being named, with the third choice never picked up.
The booted notchback version was to follow and it was designated as LM11, although its development was to diverge from the original path, it was launched as the Austin Montego on its launch in April 1984, following British Leyland's decision to discontinue the Morris marque. Production began in November 1982, the car was launched on 1 March 1983; the wheelbase was 2,510 mm, the length was 4,050 mm. The Maestro incorporated many novel and pioneering features for its class, it had a bonded laminated windscreen, homofocal headlamps, body-coloured plastic bumpers, an electronic engine management system, adjustable front seat belt upper anchorage positions, an asymmetrically split rear seat, a 12,000-mile service interval. The MG and Vanden Plas versions had solid-state instrumentation with digital speedometer and vacuum fluorescent analogue displays for tachometer and temperature gauges, trip computer and a voice synthesis warning and information system; the Maestro was launched in March 1983. In its summing up of the new car the Consumers' Association, in the June edition of its Which? journal, described it as roomy and nice to drive, said "If you are considering buying one now, our advice, based on our first impressions, is to go ahead".
In January 1984, after testing the car, they concluded: "In comparison with opposition of a similar price and body size, the Maestro has a clear advantage on room for passengers, with few cars equalling it for comfort either in the front or back". They considered it to be a serious rival to the higher-segment Vauxhall Cavalier and Ford Sierra, apart from its smaller boot space; the original lineup consisted of the 1.3-liter base, L, HLE models, the 1.6-liter L, HLS, Vanden Plas, the sporty MG Maestro. The HLE model had a somewhat downtuned engine and received Volkswagen's "monstrously long-geared" 3+E transmission to maximize fuel economy, at the cost of severe performance loss. To further up the HLE's economy game, it was fitted with an econometer and the same black rubber fins along the sides of the rear windshield as was the MG Maestro; the base model forewent the other versions' plastic bumpers, instead being fitted with black-painted steel units. The plastic bumpers were the first of their kind, being made fr
Morris Motors
Morris Motors Limited was a British owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same vehicles. By 1926 its production represented 42 per cent of British car manufacture — a remarkable expansion rate attributed to William Morris's practice of buying in major as well as minor components and assembling them in his own factory. Self-financing through his enormous profits Morris did borrow some money from the public in 1926 and shared some of Morris Motors' ownership with the public in 1936 when the new capital was used by Morris Motors to buy many of his other held businesses. Though it merged into larger organisations in 1952, the Morris name remained in use until 1984, when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin brand; until 2014 Morris Oxford vehicles were manufactured with periodic enhancements in India by Hindustan Motors. Part of Morris's manufacturing complex at Cowley, Oxford is now BMW Group's Plant Oxford, headquarters of the MINI marque.
The Morris trademark is owned by the China-based automotive company SAIC after being transferred from bankrupt subsidiary Nanjing Automotive. WRM Motors Ltd began in 1912 when bicycle manufacturer William Morris moved on from the sale and repair of cars to car manufacturing, he planned a new light car assembled from bought-in components. In this way he was able to retain ownership by keeping within the bounds of his own capital resources. A factory was opened in 1913 at former Oxford Military College at Cowley, United Kingdom where Morris's first car, the 2-seat Morris Oxford "Bullnose" was assembled. Nearly all the major components were bought in. In 1914 a coupé and van were added to the line-up, but the Bullnose chassis was too short and the 1018 cc engine too small to make a much-needed 4-seat version of the car. White and Poppe, who made the engine, were unable to supply the volume of units that Morris required, so Morris turned to Continental of Detroit, Michigan for the supply of a 1548 cc engine.
Gearboxes and axles were sourced in the US. In spite of the outbreak of the First World War the orders were maintained and, from mid-1915 a new larger car, the 2-seat and 4-seat Morris Cowley was introduced. After the war the Continental engine was no longer available so Morris arranged for Hotchkiss of France to make a near copy in their Coventry factory; this was used to power new versions of the more up-market Morris Oxford cars. With a reputation for producing high-quality cars and a policy of cutting prices, Morris's business continued to grow and increase its share of the British market overtaking Ford to become in 1924 the UK's biggest car manufacturer, holding a 51% share of the home market and remaining enormously profitable. Possessed of a large cash income Morris had a policy of buying up suppliers' businesses. For example, in 1923 he bought Hotchkiss's Coventry business which became Morris Engines branch, he brought in F G Woollard which became Morris Commercial Cars to lead the re-organization of their engine production from batch to flow, thus increasing output from less than 300 units per week to 1200.
By 1924 the factory was making 2000 units a week with only a small increase in work space and labour force. Cecil Kimber, head of Morris's own original 1909-founded Morris Garage sales hire and repair operation in Oxford, began building sporting versions of Morris cars in 1924 labelling them MG, they were so successful a separate MG factory was soon established south of Oxford in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Having admired Budd's all-steel bodies Morris founded The Pressed Steel Company of Great Britain Limited in 1926 as a joint venture with Edward G Budd Manufacturing Company - Budd International of Philadelphia, USA. Pressed Steel's factory was located over the road from Morris's factory at Cowley and supplied Morris and many other motor manufacturers. Morris withdrew from the venture in mid-1930. Budd sold their share to British interests at the beginning of 1936; the small car market was entered in 1928 with the Leonard Lord-designed Morris Minor, using an 847 cc engine from Morris's newly acquired Wolseley Motors.
Lord had been sent there to modernise Wolseley's products. The Minor was to provide the base for the MG Midgets; this timely spread into the small car market helped Morris through the economic depression of the 1930s. At the 1934 London Motor Show the Minor was replaced by the Morris Eight, a direct response to the Ford Model Y and, though Leonard Lord's handiwork based on it. In 1932 W R Morris appointed Lord Managing Director of Morris Motors Limited and Lord swept through the Morris works, updating the production methods, introducing a proper moving assembly line and creating Europe's largest integrated car plant, but Morris and Lord fell out, after 15 years Lord left in 1936 – threatening to "take Cowley apart brick by brick". Lord moved to Austin and they were to meet again in BMC —Morris, as Lord Nuffield, its first chairman. Lord succeeded him; as of 1 July 1935 Morris Motors acquired from W R Morris, now Lord Nuffield, in exchange for a further issue of ordinary shares to him, the car manufacturing businesses of Wolseley Motors Limited and The MG Car Company Limited.
A separate private company, Wolseley Aero Engines Limited, was formed to continue the development of his aviation interests. In 1936 Lord Nuffield sold Morris Commercial Cars Limited, his commercial vehicle enterprise, to Morris Motors. Car production in Britain 1919-1938 In 1938 William Morris, Baron Nuffield was raised to Viscount Nuffield; the same year he transferred his newly acquired Riley car business to Morris Motors Limit
Triumph Motor Company
The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company in the 19th and 20th centuries. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann of Nuremberg formed S. Bettmann & Co. and started importing bicycles from Europe and selling them under his own trade name in London. The trade name became "Triumph" the following year, in 1887 Bettmann was joined by a partner, Moritz Schulte from Germany. In 1889, the businessmen started producing their own bicycles in England; the company was acquired by Leyland Motors in 1960 becoming part of the giant conglomerate British Leyland in 1968, where the Triumph brand was absorbed into BL's Specialist Division alongside former Leyland stablemates Rover and Jaguar. Triumph-badged vehicles were produced by BL until 1984 when the Triumph marque was retired, where it remained dormant under the auspices of BL's successor company Rover Group; the rights to the Triumph marque are owned by BMW, who purchased the Rover Group in 1994. The company was renamed the Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd. in 1897.
In 1902 they began producing Triumph motorcycles at their works in Coventry on Much Park Street. At first, they used engines purchased from another company, but the business prospered and they soon started making their own engines. In 1907 they purchased the premises of a spinning mill on Priory Street to develop a new factory. Major orders for the 550 cc Model H were placed by the British Army during the First World War. In 1921 Bettmann was persuaded by his general manager Claude Holbrook, who had joined the company in 1919, to acquire the assets and Clay Lane premises of the Dawson Car Company and start producing a car and 1.4-litre engine type named the Triumph 10/20 designed for them by Lea-Francis, to whom they paid a royalty for every car sold. Production of this car and its immediate successors was moderate, but this changed with the introduction in 1927 of the Triumph Super 7, which sold in large numbers until 1934. In 1930 the company's name was changed to Triumph Motor Company. Holbrook realized he could not compete with the larger car companies for the mass market, so he decided to produce expensive cars, introduced the models Southern Cross and Gloria.
At first they used engines made by Triumph but designed by Coventry Climax, but in 1937 Triumph started to produce engines to their own designs by Donald Healey, who had become the company's experimental manager in 1934. The company encountered financial problems however, in 1936 the Triumph bicycle and motorcycle businesses were sold, the latter to Jack Sangster of Ariel to become Triumph Engineering Co Ltd. Healey purchased an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 and developed a new car model with an Alfa inspired straight-8 engine type named the Triumph Dolomite. Three of these cars were made in 1934, one of, used in competition and destroyed in an accident; the Dolomites manufactured from 1937 to 1940 were unrelated to these prototypes. In July 1939 the Triumph Motor Company went into receivership and the factory and goodwill were offered for sale; the Thos W Ward scrapping company purchased Triumph, placed Healey in charge as general manager, but the effects of the Second World War again stopped the production of cars.
In November 1944 what was left of the Triumph Motor Company and the Triumph trade name were bought by the Standard Motor Company and a subsidiary "Triumph Motor Company Limited" was formed with production transferred to Standard's factory at Canley, on the outskirts of Coventry. Triumph's new owners had been supplying engines to Jaguar and its predecessor company since 1938. After an argument between Standard-Triumph Managing Director, Sir John Black, William Lyons, the creator and owner of Jaguar, Black's objective in acquiring the rights to the name and the remnants of the bankrupt Triumph business was to build a car to compete with the soon to be launched post-war Jaguars; the pre-war Triumph models were not revived and in 1946 a new range of Triumphs was announced, starting with the Triumph Roadster. The Roadster had an aluminium body because steel was in short supply and surplus aluminium from aircraft production was plentiful; the same engine was used for the 1800 Town and Country saloon named the Triumph Renown, notable for the styling chosen by Standard-Triumph's managing director Sir John Black.
A similar style was used for the subsequent Triumph Mayflower light saloon. All three of these models prominently sported the "globe" badge, used on pre-war models; when Sir John was forced to retire from the company this range of cars was discontinued without being replaced directly, sheet aluminium having by now become a prohibitively expensive alternative to sheet steel for most auto-industry purposes. In the early 1950s it was decided to use the Triumph name for sporting cars and the Standard name for saloons and in 1953 the Triumph TR2 was initiated, the first of the TR series of sports cars that were produced until 1981. Curiously, the TR2 had the Triumph globe on its hubcaps. Standard had been making a range of small saloons named the Standard Eight and Ten, had been working on their replacements; the success of the TR range meant that Triumph was considered a more marketable name than Standard, the new car was introduced in 1959 as the Triumph Herald. The last Standard car to be made in the UK was replaced in 1963 by the Triumph 2000.
Standard-Triumph was bought by Leyland Motors Ltd. in December 1960. In 1968 Leyland merged with British Motor Holdings (created out of the merger o
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker that has its main headquarter in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903; the company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer Troller, an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom and a 32% stake in Jiangling Motors, it has joint-ventures in China, Thailand and Russia. The company is controlled by the Ford family. 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. Ford's former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover, acquired in 1989 and 2000 were sold to Tata Motors in March 2008. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010. In 2011, Ford discontinued the Mercury brand, under which it had marketed entry-level luxury cars in the United States, Canada and the Middle East since 1938.
Ford is the second-largest U. S.-based automaker and the fifth-largest in the world based on 2015 vehicle production. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe; the company went public in 1956 but the Ford family, through special Class B shares, still retain 40 percent voting rights. During the financial crisis at the beginning of the 21st century, it was close to bankruptcy, but it has since returned to profitability. Ford was the eleventh-ranked overall American-based company in the 2018 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2017 of $156.7 billion. In 2008, Ford produced 5.532 million automobiles and employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants and facilities worldwide. Henry Ford's first attempt at a car company under his own name was the Henry Ford Company on November 3, 1901, which became the Cadillac Motor Company on August 22, 1902, after Ford left with the rights to his name; the Ford Motor Company was launched in a converted factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John and Horace Dodge.
The first president was not Ford, but local banker John S. Gray, chosen to assuage investors' fears that Ford would leave the new company the way he had left its predecessor. During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue and its factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on each car, assembling it from parts made by supplier companies contracting for Ford. Within a decade, the company would lead the world in the expansion and refinement of the assembly line concept, Ford soon brought much of the part production in-house in a vertical integration that seemed a better path for the era. Henry Ford was 39 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, it has been in continuous family control for over 100 years and is one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world. The first gasoline powered automobile had been created in 1885 by the German inventor Carl Benz.
More efficient production methods were needed to make automobiles affordable for the middle class, to which Ford contributed by, for instance, introducing the first moving assembly line in 1913 at the Ford factory in Highland Park. Between 1903 and 1908, Ford produced the Models A, B, C, F, K, N, R, S. Hundreds or a few thousand of most of these were sold per year. In 1908, Ford introduced the mass-produced Model T, which totalled millions sold over nearly 20 years. In 1927, Ford replaced the T with the first car with safety glass in the windshield. Ford launched the first low-priced car with a V8 engine in 1932. In an attempt to compete with General Motors' mid-priced Pontiac and Buick, Ford created the Mercury in 1939 as a higher-priced companion car to Ford. Henry Ford purchased the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922, in order to compete with such brands as Cadillac and Packard for the luxury segment of the automobile market. In 1929, Ford was contracted by the government of the Soviet Union to set up the Gorky Automobile Plant in Russia producing Ford Model A and AAs thereby playing an important role in the industrialisation of that country.
The creation of a scientific laboratory in Dearborn, Michigan in 1951, doing unfettered basic research, led 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, for the first time in a car, rear seatbelts, 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. In late 1955, Ford established the Continental division as a separate luxury car division; this division was responsible for the manufacture and sale of the famous Continental Mark II. At the same time, the Edsel division was created to design and market that car starting with the 1958 model year. Due to limited sales of the Continental and the Edsel disaster, Ford merged Lincoln and Edsel into "M
Automotive industry
The automotive industry is a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, manufacturing and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest economic sectors by revenue; the automotive industry does not include industries dedicated to the maintenance of automobiles following delivery to the end-user, such as automobile repair shops and motor fuel filling stations. The word automotive is from the Greek autos, Latin motivus to refer to any form of self-powered vehicle; this term, as proposed by Elmer Sperry, first came into use with reference to automobiles in 1898. The automotive industry began in the 1860s with hundreds of manufacturers that pioneered the horseless carriage. For many decades, the United States led the world in total automobile production. In 1929, before the Great Depression, the world had 32,028,500 automobiles in use, the U. S. automobile industry produced over 90% of them. At that time the U. S. had one car per 4.87 persons. After World War II, the U.
S. produced about 75 percent of world's auto production. In 1980, the U. S. was overtaken by Japan and became world's leader again in 1994. In 2006, Japan narrowly passed the U. S. in production and held this rank until 2009, when China took the top spot with 13.8 million units. With 19.3 million units manufactured in 2012, China doubled the U. S. production, with 10.3 million units, while Japan was in third place with 9.9 million units. From 1970 over 1998 to 2012, the number of automobile models in the U. S. has grown exponentially. Safety is a state that implies to be protected from any risk, damage or cause of injury. In the automotive industry, safety means that users, operators or manufacturers do not face any risk or danger coming from the motor vehicle or its spare parts. Safety for the automobiles themselves, implies that there is no risk of damage. Safety in the automotive industry is important and therefore regulated. Automobiles and other motor vehicles have to comply with a certain number of norms and regulations, whether local or international, in order to be accepted on the market.
The standard ISO 26262, is considered as one of the best practice framework for achieving automotive functional safety. In case of safety issues, product defect or faulty procedure during the manufacturing of the motor vehicle, the maker can request to return either a batch or the entire production run; this procedure is called product recall. Product recalls happen in every industry and can be production-related or stem from the raw material. Product and operation tests and inspections at different stages of the value chain are made to avoid these product recalls by ensuring end-user security and safety and compliance with the automotive industry requirements. However, the automotive industry is still concerned about product recalls, which cause considerable financial consequences. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007, consuming over 980 billion litres of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly; the automobile is a primary mode of transportation for many developed economies.
The Detroit branch of Boston Consulting Group predicts that, by 2014, one-third of world demand will be in the four BRIC markets. Meanwhile, in the developed countries, the automotive industry has slowed down, it is expected that this trend will continue as the younger generations of people no longer want to own a car anymore, prefer other modes of transport. Other powerful automotive markets are Iran and Indonesia. Emerging auto markets buy more cars than established markets. According to a J. D. Power study, emerging markets accounted for 51 percent of the global light-vehicle sales in 2010; the study, performed in 2010 expected this trend to accelerate. However, more recent reports confirmed the opposite. In the United States, vehicle sales peaked in 2000, at 17.8 million units. The OICA counts over 50 countries which assemble, manufacture or disseminate automobiles. Of that figure, only 13, boldfaced in the list below, possess the capability to design automobiles from the ground up; this is a list of the 15 largest manufacturers by production in 2016.
It is common for automobile manufacturers to hold stakes in other automobile manufacturers. These ownerships can be explored under the detail for the individual companies. Notable current relationships include: Daimler AG holds a 10.0% stake in KAMAZ. Daimler AG holds an 89.29% stake in Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation. Daimler AG holds a 3.1% in the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Daimler AG holds a 12% stake in Beijing Automotive Group, Daimler AG holds an 85% stake in Master Motors. Dongfeng Motor holds a 12.23% stake and a 19.94% exercisable voting rights in PSA Groupe. FAW Group owns 49% of Haima Automobile. FCA holds a 10% stake in Ferrari. FCA holds a 67% stake in Fiat Automobili Srbija. FCA holds 37.8% of Tofaş with another 37.8% owned by Koç Holding. Fiat Automobili Srbija owns a 54% stake in Zastava Trucks. Fiat Industrial owns a 46% stake in Zastava Trucks. Fujian Motors Group holds a 15% stake in King Long. FMG, Beijing Automotive Group, China Motor, Daimler has a joint venture called Fujian Benz.
FMG, China Motor, Mitsubishi Motors has a joint venture called Soueast, FMG holds a 50% stake, both China Motor and Mitsubishi Motors holds an equal 25% stake. Geely Automobile holds a 23% stake in The London Taxi Company. Geely Automobile holds a 49.9% stake in PROTON Holdings and a 51% stake in Lotus Cars. Geely Holding Group holds a 9.69% stake in Daimle
