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49-476: In 1973 the Ford Motor Company headed by Henry Ford II purchased 270 acres (1.1 km) of orchard on the edge of Valencia. Exactly 1,000 days later, on 18 October 1976, the first Ford Fiesta rolled off the production line. Just a week after that, on 25 October 1976, the king formally inaugurated the plant. Construction had cost 680 million dollars. At the time when the plant was planned,

98-470: A Mazda compact pickup truck as the Ford Courier since late 1971, Ford did not like the idea of flagship North American passenger car models moving in that direction. Ford Motor Company did go on to adapt to the era in which Japanese, German, and American participation in a globalized automobile industry became tightly integrated. For example, Ford's relationship with Mazda was well developed even before

147-430: A car, and prefer other modes of transport. Other potentially powerful automotive markets are Iran and Indonesia . Emerging automobile markets already 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 (2012) confirmed

196-412: A few weeks later. He assumed presidency of the business on September 21, 1945. Since it had been assumed that Edsel Ford would continue in his capacity as president of the company for much longer than turned out to be the case, Henry Ford II had received little preparation for the position, and he inherited the company during a chaotic period; its European factories had suffered a great deal of damage during

245-551: A group of major car manufacturers including GM , Ford , Volvo , BYD Auto , Jaguar Land Rover and Mercedes-Benz committed to "work towards all sales of new cars and vans being zero emission globally by 2040, and by no later than 2035 in leading markets". Major car manufacturing nations like the United States, Germany, China, Japan and South Korea, as well as Volkswagen , Toyota , Peugeot , Honda , Nissan and Hyundai , did not pledge. The global automotive industry

294-502: A guy is over 25 percent a jerk, he's in trouble. And Henry was 95 percent." Ford II formally retired from all positions at Ford Motor Company on October 1, 1982, upon reaching the company's mandatory retirement age of 65, but remained the ultimate source of authority at Ford until his death in 1987. Henry Ford II was married three times: Ford died of pneumonia in Detroit at Henry Ford Hospital on September 29, 1987, at age 70. After

343-518: A lightning rod in efforts to prevent unionization of the Ford labor force, by violent means if necessary. Next, acknowledging his inexperience, Henry II hired several seasoned executives to support him. He hired former General Motors executives Ernest Breech and Lewis Crusoe away from the Bendix Corporation . Breech was to serve in the coming years as the young Ford's business mentor, and

392-433: A major worldwide financial operation. As a team, the "Whiz Kids" are probably best remembered as the design team for the 1949 Ford , which they took from concept to production in 19 months, and which re-established Ford as a formidable automotive company. It was reported that 100,000 orders for this car were taken the day it was introduced to the market. Ford became president and CEO of Ford Motor Company in 1945. In 1956,

441-490: A private funeral service at Christ Church Grosse Pointe , his remains were cremated and the ashes scattered. Henry Ford II is portrayed by Tracy Letts in the 2019 film Ford v Ferrari (released under the title "Le Mans '66" in some parts of Europe). He shows up in a few scenes in the 2002 movie Monday Night Mayhem . Footage of him appears in the documentary television series The Cars that Built America . Automotive industry The automotive industry comprises

490-470: A publicly traded corporation in 1956. From 1943 to 1950, he also served as president of the Ford Foundation . Henry Ford II was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Eleanor Clay Ford and Edsel Ford on September 4, 1917. He, brothers Benson and William , and sister Josephine , grew up amid affluence. He graduated from The Hotchkiss School in 1936. He attended Yale University , where he served on

539-500: A top producer 1950s : United Kingdom, Germany, and France restarted production. 1960s : Japan started production and increased volume through the 1980s. United States, Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom produced about 80% of motor vehicles through the 1980s. 1990s : South Korea became a volume producer. In 2004, Korea became No. 5 passing France. 2000s : China increased its production drastically, and became

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588-710: A wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design , development , manufacturing , marketing , selling , repairing , and modification of motor vehicles . It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16% such as in France up to 40% to countries such as Slovakia). The word automotive comes from the Greek autos (self), and Latin motivus (of motion ), referring to any form of self-powered vehicle. This term, as proposed by Elmer Sperry (1860–1930), first came into use to describe automobiles in 1898. The automotive industry began in

637-643: Is a major consumer of water. Some estimates surpass 180,000 L (39,000 imp gal) of water per car manufactured, depending on whether tyre production is included. Production processes that use a significant volume of water include surface treatment, painting, coating, washing, cooling, air-conditioning, and boilers, not counting component manufacturing. Paintshop operations consume especially large amounts of water because equipment running on water-based products must also be cleaned with water. In 2022, Tesla's Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg ran into legal challenges due to droughts and falling groundwater levels in

686-463: Is a primary mode of transportation for many developed economies. The Detroit branch of Boston Consulting Group predicted that, by 2014, one-third of world demand would be in the four BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). Meanwhile, in developed countries, the automotive industry has slowed. It is also expected that this trend will continue, especially as the younger generations of people (in highly urbanized countries) no longer want to own

735-467: The PSA Group had been in the top 8 1999 to 2012, and 2007 to 2012 one of the eight largest along with the seven largest as of 2017) and the five largest in the top 5 positions since 2007, according to OICA, which, however, stopped publishing statistics of motor vehicle production by manufacturer after 2017. All ten remained as the ten largest automakers by sales until the merger between Fiat-Chrysler and

784-566: The United States led the world in total automobile production, with the U.S. Big Three General Motors , Ford Motor Company , and Chrysler being the world's three largest auto manufacturers for a time, and G.M. and Ford remaining the two largest until the mid-2000s. In 1929, before the Great Depression , the world had 32,028,500 automobiles in use, of which the U.S. automobile enterprises produced more than 90%. At that time,

833-485: 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 particularly concerned about product recalls, which cause considerable financial consequences. In 2007, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road, consuming over 980 billion litres (980,000,000 m ) of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The automobile

882-469: The 1860s with hundreds of manufacturers pioneering the horseless carriage . Early car manufacturing involved manual assembly by a human worker. The process evolved from engineers working on a stationary car, to a conveyor belt system where the car passed through multiple stations of more specialized engineers. Starting in the 1960s, robotic equipment was introduced to the process, and most cars are now mainly assembled by automated machinery. For many decades,

931-622: The Breech–Crusoe team would form the core of Ford's business expertise, offering much-needed experience. Additionally, Ford hired ten young up-and-comers, known as the " Whiz Kids ". These ten, gleaned from an Army Air Forces statistical team, Ford envisioned as giving the company the ability to innovate and stay current. Two of them, Arjay Miller and Robert McNamara , went on to serve as presidents of Ford themselves. A third member, J. Edward Lundy , served in key financial roles for several decades and helped to establish Ford Finance's position as

980-519: The Deuce" or simply "the Deuce" , was an American businessman in the automotive industry . He was the oldest son of Edsel Ford I and oldest grandson of Henry Ford . He served as president of the Ford Motor Company from 1945 to 1960, chief executive officer (CEO) from 1947 to 1979, and chairman of the board of directors from 1960 to 1980. Under his leadership, Ford Motor Company became

1029-657: The PSA Group in early 2021 ; only Renault was degraded to 11th place, in 2022, when being surpassed by both BMW (which became the 10th largest in 2021) and Chang'an . These were the twenty largest manufacturers by production volume in 2012 and 2013, or the 21 largest in 2011 (before the Fiat-Chrysler merger ), of which the fourteen largest as of 2011 were in the top 14 in 2010, 2008 and 2007 (but not 2009, when Changan and Mazda temporarily degraded Chrysler to 16th place). The eighteen largest as of 2013 have remained in

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1078-535: The Spanish domestic auto-market to less than 10%. Political changes following Franco's death later culminated with Spain joining the European Economic Community in 1986 which rendered these restrictions redundant. The plant was built and fitted out under the leadership of Hanns Brand, who had previously been responsible for building the recently opened Ford Saarlouis plant , which provided

1127-428: The U.S. had one car per 4.87 persons. After 1945, the U.S. produced around three-quarters of the world's auto production. In 1980, the U.S. was overtaken by Japan and then became a world leader again in 1994. Japan narrowly passed the U.S. in production during 2006 and 2007, and in 2008 also China , which in 2009 took the top spot (from Japan) with 13.8 million units, although the U.S. surpassed Japan in 2011, to become

1176-538: The Valencia plant. The plant has produced over 9 million cars and was recently producing at the rate of 2,000 units per day. In June 2022, Ford announced it will produce its future electric models at Ford Valencia Plant, leaving the future of the Saarlouis Body & Assembly plant past 2025 uncertain. In 1977 the plant employed 7,500 workers, and there was talk of this increasing to 10,000 as full capacity

1225-486: 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 particularly important and therefore highly regulated. Automobiles and other motor vehicles have to comply with a certain number of regulations, whether local or international, in order to be accepted on

1274-641: The blue-print for the Valencia project. The plant began manufacturing engines (the Kent/Valencia unit ) in April 1976, with the first Fiestas coming off the line in October of that year. The Fiesta was seen as the right car for the times, and at the opening of the plant it was described as the model which might overtake the fifteen million sales of the Ford Model T . The Spanish market waiting list for

1323-601: The business staff of The Yale Record , the campus humor magazine, but left in 1940 before graduation. During this time, he became a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity. When his father Edsel , president of Ford, died of cancer in May 1943 (during World War II ), Henry Ford II was serving in the Navy and unable to inherit the presidency of the family-owned business. The elderly and ailing Henry Ford I , company founder, re-assumed

1372-472: The capital of a Spanish-based car manufacturer. Negotiations took place between Ford executive Dick Holmes and the Spanish government to secure a less restrictive framework for the Ford project in view of the size and potential benefit to Spain from the investment, but Ford were still required to commit to exporting two thirds of the plant's production outside Spain (which seems to have aligned with their existing objectives), and restricting their penetration of

1421-447: The car exceeded a year in April 1977. After the 1973 Oil Shock persuaded Ford to move ahead with the production of a Renault 5 competitor, the plant under construction in Valencia became the obvious location for the car's production. When it opened, the plant was the designated Fiesta production facility for Europe, though after Franco's death it also assembled Escort models. Ford-based Mazda vehicles have also been assembled at

1470-592: The company (equivalent to $ 7,300,000,000 in 2023 ), but the "experimental car" program instituted during his tenure, the Edsel , cost the company almost half that. Likewise, Henry Ford II hired the creative Lee Iacocca, who was fundamental to the success of the Ford Mustang , in 1964, but fired him due to personal disputes in 1978 (about the break in their relationship, Iacocca quoted Ford as saying, "Sometimes you just don't like somebody.") Iacocca later retorted, "If

1519-527: The company became a publicly traded corporation and dedicated its new world headquarters building . During his term as CEO of Ford, he lived in Grosse Pointe , Michigan . On July 13, 1960, he was elected chairman before resigning as president on November 9, 1960. He would resign as CEO on October 1, 1979, and as chairman on March 13, 1980. His nephew, William Clay Ford Jr. would later assume these positions after 20 years of non-Ford family management of

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1568-605: The company. During this interim, the family's interests were represented on the board by Henry's younger brother William Clay Ford Sr. , as well as Henry's son Edsel Ford II and his nephew William Clay Ford Jr. During the early 1960s Ford engaged in lengthy negotiations with Enzo Ferrari to buy Ferrari , with a view to expanding Ford's presence in motorsport in general and at the Le Mans 24 Hours in particular. However, negotiations collapsed due to disputes over control of Ferrari's Scuderia Ferrari racing division. The collapse of

1617-726: The deal led him to launch the Ford GT40 project, intended to end Ferrari's dominance at Le Mans (the Italian marque won the race six consecutive times from 1960 to 1965). In 1966, after two difficult years in 1964 and 1965, the GT40 Mark IIs locked out the podium at both the Daytona 24 Hours and the Sebring 12 Hours before taking the first of four consecutive wins at Le Mans . In the late 1960s, Ford became personally involved in

1666-561: The development of the Lincoln Continental Mark III . He gave his enthusiastic approval for both the final exterior and interior designs. The result was a Ford Motor Company flagship that single-handedly made Lincoln profitable and spawned a three-decade market rivalry between the Lincoln Mark series and Cadillac's Eldorado series. During this time, Ford also reformed the company's European operations, merging

1715-402: The dictator Francisco Franco was still in charge of the Spanish government which pursued a fiercely mercantilist economic policy. The relatively short period that elapsed between the submission by Ford, on 23 December 1972, of their plan to the government and the plant's inauguration was seen as evidence of the government's enthusiasm for the project. The domestic auto-industry at this time

1764-479: The end of Henry Ford II's period of influence. However, in Iacocca's view, it lagged several years behind GM and Chrysler, due to Henry Ford II's unappealable influence, before others led it forward despite his resistance. Henry Ford II's management style caused the company's fortunes to fluctuate in more ways than one. For example, he allowed the offering of public stock in 1956, which raised $ 650 million for

1813-519: The end of the war. During this period, the company began to decline, losing over $ 10 million a month (equivalent to $ 217,000,000 in 2023 ). The administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered a government acquisition of the company to ensure continued war production, but the idea never progressed to execution. Henry Ford II left the Navy in July 1943 and joined the company's management

1862-488: The list below) currently possess the capability to design original production automobiles from the ground up, and 17 countries (listed below) have at least one million produced vehicles a year (as of 2023). These were the ten largest manufacturers by production volume as of 2017, of which the eight largest were in the top 8 positions since Fiat's 2013 acquisition of the Chrysler Corporation (although

1911-545: The market. The standard ISO 26262 , is considered one of the best practice frameworks for achieving automotive functional safety . In case of safety issues, danger, 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 raw materials. Product and operation tests and inspections at different stages of

1960-643: The opposite; namely that the automotive industry was slowing down even in BRIC countries. In the United States, vehicle sales peaked in 2000, at 17.8 million units. In July 2021, the European Commission released its " Fit for 55 " legislation package, which contains important guidelines for the future of the automotive industry; all new cars on the European market must be zero-emission vehicles from 2035. The governments of 24 developed countries and

2009-441: The presidency, though mentally inconsistent, suspicious, and considered no longer fit for the presidency position by most of the company's directors. For the previous 20 years, although he had long been without any official executive title, the elder Ford kept de facto control over the company; the board and the management had never seriously defied him, and this moment was not different. The directors elected him, and he served until

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2058-605: The previously separate (and competing) British and German subsidiaries into a single Ford of Europe with a common product line and merged manufacturing operations. During the 1970s, Ford of Europe expanded substantially, with new factories in Saarlouis and Valencia , the latter becoming one of Ford's biggest plants outside the US. In 1973–74, as it became clear that the U.S. automobile market would begin to favor smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, Ford 's then-President Lee Iacocca

2107-780: The region. Brandenburg's Economy Minister Joerg Steinbach said that while water supply was sufficient during the first stage, more would be needed once Tesla expands the site. The factory would nearly double the water consumption in the Gruenheide area, with 1.4 million cubic meters being contracted from local authorities per year — enough for a city of around 40,000 people. Steinbach said that the authorities would like to drill for more water there and outsource any additional supply if necessary. 1960s : Post-war increase 1970s : Oil crisis and tighter safety and emission regulation 1990s : Production started in NICs . 2000s : Rise of China as

2156-461: The second-largest automobile industry. In 2023, China had for the first time in history more than 30 million produced vehicles a year, after reaching 29 million for the first time in 2017 and 28 million the year before. From 1970 (140 models) over 1998 (260 models) to 2012 (684 models), the number of automobile models in the U.S. has grown exponentially. Safety is a state that implies being protected from any risk, danger, damage, or cause of injury. In

2205-543: The war, and domestic sales were in decline. Henry Ford II immediately adopted an aggressive management style. One of his first acts as company president was to place John Bugas in charge of company management, dismissing much of his grandfather's inner circle, especially Harry Bennett , chief of the Ford Service Department, whom the elder Ford had hired in 1921 to oversee security at the vast Ford Rouge Plant complex, and nearly two decades later had become

2254-457: The world's largest-producing country in 2009. 2010s : India overtakes Korea, Canada, Spain to become 5th largest automobile producer. 2013 : The share of China (25.4%), India, Korea, Brazil, and Mexico rose to 43%, while the share of United States (12.7%), Japan, Germany, France, and United Kingdom fell to 34%. The OICA counts over 50 countries that assemble, manufacture, or disseminate automobiles. Of those, only 15 countries ( boldfaced in

2303-464: Was highly interested in buying powertrains from Honda Motor Company as a way to minimize the cost of developing a small Ford car for the North American market, such as a modified version of Ford of Europe 's Ford Fiesta . The plan was rejected by Henry Ford II, who said, "No car with my name on the hood is going to have a Jap engine inside." Although the Ford Motor Company had been selling

2352-413: Was nevertheless strongly protected, comprising partnerships between foreign automakers and Madrid based interests. (most notably that between SEAT and Fiat ). There was a requirement that Spanish built cars should incorporate at least 95% "domestic content" with any imported components subject to a 30% tariff: there was a further requirement that none of the foreign automakers could hold more than 49% of

2401-600: Was reached. More recently, in 2006, with auto-production processes increasingly automated and Ford Europe suffering from serious over-capacity, the plant still had approximately 7,000 employees, and was estimated to account for 21,000 jobs when ancillary suppliers were included in the calculation. The plant is reckoned to account for 8.2% of the economic output of Valencia . 39°19′08″N 0°24′47″W  /  39.319°N 0.413°W  / 39.319; -0.413 Henry Ford II Henry Ford II (September 4, 1917 – September 29, 1987), sometimes known as "Hank

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