Ford of Britain
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| Limited company | |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | Ford Motor Company Ltd. 1909 |
| Headquarters | Brentwood, Essex, United Kingdom |
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Key people
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Andy Barratt (Managing Director), (Chairman) |
| Products | Automobiles |
| Services | Financial services |
| Owner | Ford Motor Company |
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Number of employees
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Approximately 13,800 |
| Parent | Ford of Europe |
| Website | Ford.co.uk |
Ford of Britain (officially Ford Motor Company Limited) is a British wholly owned subsidiary of Ford of Europe, itself a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company. Its business started in 1909 and has its registered office in Brentwood, Essex. It adopted the name of Ford of Britain in 1960.
Ford of Britain operates three major manufacturing sites in the UK, in Bridgend (petrol engine production), Dagenham (diesel engine production) and Halewood (transmissions). It also operates a large research and development facility in Dunton, Essex, which employs over 3,000 engineers.
Ford has been the UK's biggest-selling car and commercial vehicle brand for 34 and 45 consecutive years respectively.
The first Ford cars, three Model As, were imported into the UK in 1903 and the first dealership in Southampton opened in 1910. In 1909 the Ford Motor Company (England) Limited was established under the chairmanship of Percival Perry opening an office at 55 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, on 8 March 1911.
An assembly plant in an old Tram factory in Trafford Park, Manchester, was opened in 1911 employing 60 people to make the Model T and the company was re-registered as Henry Ford & Son, Ltd. This was the first Ford factory outside North America. At first the cars were assembled from imported chassis and mechanical parts with bodies sourced locally. Six thousand cars were produced in 1913 and the Model T became the country's biggest selling car with 30% of the market. In 1914 Britain's first moving assembly line for car production started with 21 cars an hour being built. After the First World War, the Trafford Park plant was extended, and in 1919, 41% of British registered cars were Fords.
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Wikipedia