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106-573: Initially introduced as the Opel 4/12 PS, and manufactured at Opel's Rüsselsheim plant, this was the first German car to be assembled on a Ford inspired production line . It was aimed at the lower end of the German auto market, and clearly intended, by the standards of the day, for volume production: it sold well, with 119,484 produced by the time Laubfrosch production ended in June 1931. The official name referred to

212-596: A "vote of confidence" because of the pro-business climate being fostered in part by President-elect Donald Trump , Ford had canceled plans to invest $ 1.6 billion in a new plant in Mexico to manufacture the Ford Focus ; instead, the company would invest $ 700 million in Michigan , which it planned to use to create 700 new jobs. The Focus would now be manufactured in the existing plant in Mexico. Also in 2017, Ford began development of

318-503: A $ 2.7 billion profit in fiscal year 2009, the company's first full-year profit in four years. In 2012, Ford's corporate bonds were upgraded from junk to investment grade again, citing sustainable, lasting improvements. On October 29, 2012, Ford announced the sale of its climate control components business, its last remaining automotive components operation, to Detroit Thermal Systems LLC for an undisclosed price. On November 1, 2012, Ford announced that CEO Alan Mulally would stay with

424-529: A 1.6-litre (98 cu in) engine, nearly four times as much horsepower as the RAC system suggested. While the RAC system had protected the home market from the import of large-engined low-priced mass-produced American cars, the need for roomy generously proportioned cars for export was now paramount and the British government abandoned the tax horsepower system with effect from 1 January 1947 replacing it at first with

530-663: A 32% stake in China's Jiangling Motors . The Henry Ford Company was Henry Ford's first attempt at a car manufacturing company and was established on November 3, 1901. This became the Cadillac Motor Company on August 22, 1902, after Ford left with the rights to his name. In 1903, the Ford Motor Company was launched in a converted factory, with $ 28,000, equivalent to $ 950,000 in 2023, in cash from twelve investors, most notably John and Horace Dodge , who later founded

636-524: A black roof while the delivery van variants were Reddish Brown". Improvements announced in November 1926 included more power for the 1018 cc engine which by now was standard across the Laubfrosch range. Maximum output of 16 PS (11.8 kW) at 2,800 rpm came with a small increase in the compression ratio and a change in the carburetor specification. Claimed top speed rose to 70 km/h (44 mph). There

742-509: A change in car tax policy and after 1945 tax horse-power returned in West Germany, applying the 1928 formula, as a determinant of annual car tax on new cars purchased in or after 1945. However, the introduction of tax on road fuel in 1951 and progressive increases in fuel tax thereafter reduced the importance of annual car tax so that today far more of the tax on car ownership is collected via fuel taxes than via annual car tax. Fiscal horsepower

848-402: A decade the company led the world in the expansion and refinement of the assembly line concept, and Ford soon brought much of the part production in-house, via vertical integration . Henry Ford was 39 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which became 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

954-893: A driver that killed two men while using BlueCruise. In November 2024, Ford announced that it would cut 800 jobs in the UK and 2,900 in Germany to try and reduce costs. The key trends for the Ford Motor Company are (as of the financial year ending December 31): Members of the Ford board as of March 2023 are: William Clay Ford Jr. (executive chairman), Jim Farley (president and CEO), Kimberly Casiano , Alexandra Ford English (daughter of William Clay Ford Jr.), Henry Ford III (son of Edsel Ford II ), William W. Helman IV, Jon Huntsman Jr. , William E. Kennard , John C. May, Beth E. Mooney , John L. Thornton , John Veihmeyer , Lynn Vojvodich Radakovich, and John S. Weinberg. Jim Farley succeeded Jim Hackett as

1060-553: A factory to build Model Ts in Manchester , to circumvent the import tariffs that, up to that point, had increased the effective price of foreign cars. Under the RAC's formula the Model T was a 22 'tax horsepower' car, making it more expensive to run than its British-built rivals on sale for the same price. At first the RAC rating was usually representative of the car's actual (brake) horsepower, but as engine design and technology progressed in

1166-595: A function of vehicle weight.) Attempts to correlate new tax horsepower values with old ones result in small differences due to roundings used in the new formula which are, for most purposes, unimportant. In 1933 the Hitler government came into power and identified the promotion of the auto industry as key to economic recovery: new cars purchased after April 1933 were no longer burdened by an annual car tax charge and German passenger car production surged from 41,727 in 1932 to 276,804 in 1938. Thereafter war and military defeat led to

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1272-417: A new fashionable "boat-deck" style rear end and a switch over in respect of the brakes so that in 1925 it was the footbrake pedal that operated via a cable linkage on the rear wheels and the hand brake that operated via a mechanical linkage directly on the drive shaft. In Autumn 1924, some months after the launch of the 4 / 12 PS, Opel introduced the 4 / 14 with a slightly longer wheelbase, a larger engine, and

1378-474: A new mixed-use urban campus in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit , with its purchase, renovation, and occupation of The Factory at Michigan and Rosa Parks. The new site was expected to have a major focus on the development of autonomous vehicle and electric vehicle technology. Ford later began buying up other parcels of land in Corktown including a very high-profile purchase of Michigan Central Station which

1484-443: A plan to return the company to profitability. Fields previewed the plan, named The Way Forward , at the board meeting of the company on December 7, 2005, and it was unveiled to the public on January 23, 2006. "The Way Forward" included resizing the company to match market realities, dropping some unprofitable and inefficient models, consolidating production lines, closing 14 factories and cutting 30,000 jobs. Ford moved to introduce

1590-498: A range of new vehicles, including " Crossover SUVs " built on unibody car platforms, rather than more body-on-frame chassis. In developing the hybrid electric powertrain technologies for the Ford Escape Hybrid SUV, the company licensed similar Toyota hybrid technologies in order to avoid patent infringements. Ford announced that it would team up with electricity supply company Southern California Edison (SCE) to examine

1696-440: A result of high U.S. health care costs for an aging workforce , soaring gasoline prices, eroding market share, and an overdependence on declining SUV sales. Profit margins decreased on large vehicles due to increased "incentives" (in the form of rebates or low-interest financing) to offset declining demand. In the latter half of 2005, Chairman Bill Ford asked newly appointed Ford Americas Division President Mark Fields to develop

1802-487: A self-driving car startup. In May 2017, Ford announced cuts to its global workforce amid efforts to address the company's declining share price and to improve profits. The company is targeting $ 3 billion in cost reduction and a nearly 10% reduction in the salaried workforce in Asia and North America to enhance earnings in 2018. Jim Hackett was announced to replace Mark Fields as CEO of Ford Motor. Mr. Hackett most recently oversaw

1908-497: A somewhat progressive way of taxing higher-value cars more than low-cost ones but was also introduced to protect the domestic British motor industry from foreign imports, especially the Ford Model T . Henry Ford's mass production methods meant that the Model T was competitively priced with British-built cars despite being a much larger, more durable and more powerful car than other available similarly-priced models. In 1912 Ford opened

2014-456: A standard deep-dish steering wheel, optional front, and, for the first time in a car, rear seatbelts, and 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

2120-468: A tax on cubic capacity, which was in turn replaced by a flat tax applying from 1 January 1948. However British cars and cars in other countries applying the same approach to automobile taxation continued to feature long, relatively narrow cylinders even in the 1950s and 1960s, partly because limited investment meant that new car models often had new bodies but their engines were carried over from earlier generations. The emphasis on long strokes, combined with

2226-491: A ten-year building project. The result would see the number of Ford employees working in these areas doubling, to 24,000. During construction, some 2000 of the employees were relocated out of the campus to a temporary location in a disused section of the local shopping mall. Facilities would also be altered to allow ride-sharing and electric and self-driving vehicles. Estimates of the construction cost were $ 1.2 billion. On January 3, 2017, Ford CEO Mark Fields announced that in

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2332-460: A wider range of bodies. The engine architecture and the stroke length in the cylinders was unchanged, but the bore was increased by 2 mm (0.079 in), giving an engine capacity increased to 1018 cc and maximum output to 14 PS (10.3 kW) at 2,500 rpm. The listed top speed was unchanged but the wheelbase was increased by 355 mm (14.0 in) to 2,510 mm (99 in) and new larger bodies became available. Another claim made for

2438-413: Is 129 km/h (80 mph). BlueCruise uses sensors and cameras to regulate the car's speed and to keep track of speed limits and road signs. It also monitors and keeps a safe distance from other vehicles. It also comes equipped with an eye-tracking system. If the driver stops looking at the road then the car will gradually reduce its speed. This technology will initially be offered in Ford's 2023 model of

2544-586: Is a driver safety program aimed at teens that were developed together with the Governors Highway Safety Association and safety experts. The Ford Volunteer Corps allows Ford employees and retirees to sign up for volunteering work on local projects in more than 40 countries. The organization invests $ 18 million annually in education in the United States and around the world, but accepts applications only from nonprofit organizations registered in

2650-537: Is as follows: where: During the early twentieth century, automobiles in the United States were specified with a figure identical to RAC horsepower and computed using the same formula; this was known either as "NACC horsepower" (named for the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce ), "ALAM horsepower" (for NACC's predecessor, the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ), or "SAE horsepower" (for

2756-401: Is defined simply in terms of overall engine capacity. It therefore encourages small engines, but does not influence the ratio of cylinder bore to stroke. The current Spanish definition does, however, add a factor that varies in order to favour four-stroke engines over two-stroke engines. where: For vehicles where the above formula cannot be applied (e.g. electric vehicles), the tax horsepower

2862-438: Is derived from the effective engine power (which is defined by law as the maximum power that the engine can provide after being used at full power from 30 minutes, which is normally lower than the rated engine power). Until 1998 the nominal power of the engine was used instead of the effective power. where: The 26 cantons of Switzerland used (and use) a variety of different taxation methods. Originally, all of Switzerland used

2968-560: Is not an option". Ford and the United Auto Workers , representing approximately 46,000 hourly workers in North America, agreed to a historic contract settlement in November 2007 giving the company a substantial break in terms of its ongoing retiree health care costs and other economic issues. The agreement included the establishment of a company-funded, independently run Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) trust to shift

3074-507: Is planned to become the hub of their Corktown campus, and the adjacent Roosevelt Warehouse . Ford expects to move 2,500 of its employees, roughly 5 percent of its southeast Michigan workforce, to the campus with space for an additional 2,500 entrepreneurs, technology companies and partners. Bill Ford envisioned the first-floor concourse of the train station to be a public gathering place with retail outlets and restaurants. In February 2017, Ford Motor Co. acquired majority ownership of Argo AI ,

3180-518: Is still used in Italy for insurance purposes; it was formerly used also for car property taxation and it is based on engine displacement. Following the 1973 oil crisis up until the 1990s, it was heavily imposed on vehicles with engines larger than 2,000 cc, prompting Italian car makers to fit turbochargers for extra power without enlarging the displacement. Fiscal horsepower also lives on in Spain, but

3286-527: Is the amount of CO 2 released and P the engine power, then: P A {\displaystyle P_{A}} is expressed in horsepower, rounded to the nearest integer. The official emission rate of CO 2 included in the calculation is taken from the European certificate of conformity. Tax horse-power ( Steuer-PS ) was introduced in Germany on 3 June 1906 however in contrast to many regions, i.e. British and French tax horsepower formulae above, it

Opel Laubfrosch - Misplaced Pages Continue

3392-461: Is the second-largest U.S.-based automaker, behind General Motors , and the sixth-largest in the world , behind Toyota , Volkswagen Group , Hyundai Motor Group , Stellantis , and General Motors, based on 2022 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 , retain 40 percent of

3498-477: Is to be rebranded as Ford Pro, to focus on vehicle distribution and service. In August 2022, Ford announced it planned layoffs of roughly 3,000 employees and contract workers, confirming earlier reporting. The cuts would mostly affect divisions in the US, Canada, and India, which Jim Farley said would allow the company to prepare for the future of electric, software-heavy vehicles. In February 2023, Ford announced that it

3604-673: The Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicle Company . The first president was not Ford, but local banker John S. Gray , who was chosen in order 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 later at its factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit , Michigan . Groups of two or three men worked on each car, assembling it from parts made mostly by supplier companies contracting for Ford. Within

3710-525: The Ford Foundation ), based in Dearborn, Michigan, is the philanthropic arm of the Ford Motor Company. Established in 1949 by Henry Ford II , the organization is a nonprofit corporate foundation financed by contributions from Ford Motor Company. In 2017, it contributed $ 63 million to various causes with a focus on education, driving safely and community building. The Ford Driving Skills for Life program

3816-718: The Ford Transit and later the Ford Escort and the Ford Capri became common to both companies. In 1970, the Ford Taunus and the Ford Cortina came into production with a common base construction, both models being produced in left hand drive and right hand drive . Later on, the models became identical and the respective models right- and left-hand-drive exclusively. Rationalisation of model ranges meant that production of many models in

3922-555: The Society of Automotive Engineers ). (This last term should not be confused with later horsepower ratings by the SAE.) This value is still used for taxation and license fee purposes in the State of Missouri for passenger vehicles, with electric vehicles assigned to the 12–23 Horsepower bracket by statute. Although tax horsepower was computed on a similar basis in several other European countries during

4028-560: The Transit van continued at the company's Southampton facility until mid-2013, engines at Bridgend and Dagenham , and transmissions at Halewood . Development of European Ford is broadly split between Dunton in Essex (powertrain, Fiesta/Ka, and commercial vehicles) and Cologne (body, chassis, electrical, Focus, Mondeo) in Germany. Ford also produced the Thames range of commercial vehicles, although

4134-833: The VW Sharan and SEAT Alhambra . With the introduction of the third generation of the Galaxy, Ford has moved the production of the people-carrier to the Genk plant, with Volkswagen taking over sole ownership of the Setúbal facility. Tax horsepower#Germany The tax horsepower or taxable horsepower was an early system by which taxation rates for automobiles were reckoned in some European countries such as Britain, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy; some US states like Illinois charged license plate purchase and renewal fees for passenger automobiles based on taxable horsepower. The tax horsepower rating

4240-638: The Volkswagen Beetle , proved more reliable, and achieved greater sales success. In Australia, the various states had their own automobile taxation system. Several depended on the RAC formula, but the flaws of this system were well known as early as 1909. Another formula was the Dendy-Marshall formula, which included an engine's stroke. Several Australian states used Dendy-Marshall, although Western Australia reverted to RAC hp in 1957. The Union of South Africa also depended on Dendy-Marshall, at least in

4346-698: The Wolseley 14/60 and the Alvis 12/70 of 1938. To minimise tax ratings British designers developed engines with very long stroke and low piston surface area. Another effect was the multiplicity of models: Sevens, Eights, Nines, Tens, Elevens, Twelves, Fourteens, Sixteens etc., each to fit with a taxation class. Larger, more lightly stressed engines may have been equally economical to run and, in less variety, produced much more economically. The system discouraged manufacturers from switching to more fuel-efficient overhead valve engines as these generally required larger bores, while

Opel Laubfrosch - Misplaced Pages Continue

4452-812: The industrialization of that country and consequently the Soviet war effort during World War II . To that end, in 1944, Stalin wrote a letter to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce stating that Henry Ford was "one of the world's greatest industrialists". During World War II, the United States Department of War picked Ford to mass-produce the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber at its Willow Run assembly plant. Ford Werke and Ford SAF , Ford's subsidiaries in Germany and France, respectively, produced military vehicles and other equipment for Nazi Germany 's war effort . Some of Ford's operations in Germany at

4558-480: The 1920s and 1930s these two figures began to diverge, with engines making much more power than their RAC ratings suggested: by 1924 the 747 cc (45.6 cu in) engine of the Austin Seven (named for its 7 hp rating) produced 10.5 brake horsepower, 50 percent more than its official rating. It became common for the name of a model to include both its RAC tax horsepower and its actual power output, such as

4664-480: The 1920s. The Automobile Club of Australia's "A.C.A. formula" used the same calculations as did Dendy-Marshall formula. The Australian Bureau of Statistics used RAC hp in their Registration of New Motor Vehicles, Make of Vehicles, Australia statistics until this publication was discontinued in June 1976. Several Australian states also added vehicle weight to the power rating, to get a power-weight unit which determined taxation. The Dendy-Marshall / A.C.A. formula

4770-597: The 1970s, manufactures the Transit Connect compact panel van as well as the "Jumbo" and long-wheelbase versions of the full-size Transit. This new production facility was set up near Kocaeli in 2002, and its opening marked the end of Transit assembly in Genk. Another joint venture plant near Setúbal in Portugal, set up in collaboration with Volkswagen , formerly assembled the Galaxy people-carrier as well as its sister ships,

4876-596: The 4 / 14 PS was that it incorporated improved brakes. Three seater bodies were offered, the third seat positioned behind the front two, and the bodywork a choice between an enclosed "Limousine" sedan/saloon and an open topped body. From 1925 the 2,510 mm (98.8 in) wheelbase cars were available with two and, for the first time on a Laubfrosch, four-seater bodies. There was now also a small delivery van. The cars were no longer only available in green. The three-seater "Limousine"-bodied cars were delivered in Steel Grey with

4982-400: The British government. The formula is: where: The formula was calculated from total piston surface area (i.e., "bore" only). The factor of 2.5 accounts for characteristics that were widely seen in engines at the time, such as a mean effective pressure in the cylinder of 90 psi (6.2 bar) and a maximum piston speed of 1,000 feet per minute (5.1 m/s). The system introduced

5088-528: The Detroit United Auto Workers union announced that after discussion with the leaders of General Motors , Ford, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles , the carmakers would partially shut down factories on a "rotating" basis to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic . On March 24, representatives of Ford announced that production in the US, Canada, and Mexico would not resume on March 30 as originally planned, amid

5194-574: The Ford Fund announced its official name has changed to Ford Philanthropy. Ford has had manufacturing operations worldwide, including in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and South Africa. Ford also helped the Soviet Union to construct Russian automaker GAZ . In May 2010, Ford reported that its sales increased 23% for

5300-709: 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 initially producing Ford Model A and AAs, thereby playing an important role in

5406-577: The Models A , B, C, F, K, N, R, and S. Hundreds or a few thousand of most of these were sold per year. In 1908, Ford introduced the mass-produced Model T , which totaled millions sold over nearly 20 years. In 1927, Ford replaced the T with the Model A , 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, Oldsmobile, and Buick, Ford created

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5512-577: The Mustang, due to declining demand and profitability. The Focus Active, a crossover SUV based on the newly unveiled fourth-generation Focus, was also intended to be marketed in the United States. Due to the vehicle being manufactured in China, Ford later announced that it would not release the Focus Active in the United States, due to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese exports . In March 2020,

5618-473: The U.S. Education programs and scholarships include Alan Mulally Engineering Scholarship, Ford Blue Oval Scholars Program, Ford College Community Challenge (Ford C3), Ford Driving Dreams Tour, Ford Fund/Detroit Free Press Journalism Scholarship, Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL), Grants to Individuals Program, HBCU Community Challenge, Smithsonian Latino Center Young Ambassadors Program, and William Clay Ford Automotive Design Scholarship. On April 29, 2024,

5724-540: The UK switched to elsewhere in Europe, including Belgium and Spain as well as Germany. The Ford Sierra replaced the Taunus and Cortina in 1982, drawing criticism for its radical aerodynamic styling, which was soon given nicknames, the "Jellymould" and "The Salesman's Spaceship". In February 2002, Ford ended car production in the UK. It was the first time in 90 years that Ford cars had not been made in Britain, although production of

5830-432: The back of the hood/bonnet and the base of the windscreen was now repositioned under the bonnet/hood. In Autumn 1927 ratios on first and second gear were modified and the car received a slightly more flamboyant "Packard" style radiator. At the end of 1928 the claimed maximum power from the engine increased to 20 PS (14.7 kW) at 3,500 rpm which pushed the listed top speed up to 77 km/h (48 mph). This

5936-487: The burden of retiree health care from the company's books, thereby improving its balance sheet. This arrangement took effect on January 1, 2010. As a sign of its currently strong cash position, Ford contributed its entire current liability (estimated at US$ 5.5 billion as of December 31, 2009) to the VEBA in cash, and also pre-paid US$ 500 million of its future liabilities to the fund. The agreement also gave hourly workers

6042-496: The car from the similarly shaped Citroën 5 CV which normally turned up painted yellow and was accordingly sometimes known as the Citron (lemon). Series production began in May 1924. Initially only a single body type, a simple two door "cabriolet" was offered, and the cars were all green. The 4,500 Mark price was competitive and the performance, for a small inexpensive car, was good. Demand for

6148-453: The car's success and the state of the art production facilities at Rüsselsheim that in 1929 General Motors purchased an 80% holding (subsequently increased to 100%) in the Opel family's auto business. Opel's Rüsselsheim plant may have contained the first automobile production line assembly system in Germany, but the first automobile production line in Europe had been created by André Citroën who had initially adopted Henry Ford's system for

6254-422: The cars and positive publicity followed, along with the affectionate soubriquet "Laubfrosch". The car had a four-cylinder Thermosyphon water cooled side valve engine with a claimed maximum output of 12 PS (8.8 kW) at 2,200 rpm, and a top speed of 66 km/h (41 mph). Drive passed through a three speed transmission to the rear wheels. Alarmingly from the perspective of the twenty-first century

6360-606: The chief executive officer of the company in August 2020; he previously served as Ford's chief operating officer. Hackett stayed in the company as an advisor until the second quarter of 2021. Ford is mainly owned by institutional investors, who own around 60% of shares. The largest shareholders in December 2023 were: The Ford Philanthropy, formerly known as the Ford Motor Company Fund (also known as Ford Fund, not affiliated with

6466-472: The company until 2014. Ford also named Mark Fields, its president of operations in the Americas, as its new chief operating officer Mulally was paid a compensation of over $ 174 million in his previous seven years at Ford since 2006. The generous amount has been a sore point for some workers of the company. In April 2016, Ford announced a plan to modernize its Dearborn engineering and headquarters campuses through

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6572-400: The company; at the beginning the vaccination program would be in southeast Michigan, Missouri and Ohio, but it was to be expanded later on to other locations. In March 2022, Ford announced that it would restructure the company into three separate divisions. Ford Model E is to focus on electric vehicles; Ford Blue is to focus on internal combustion vehicles; and the existing commercial division

6678-642: The cost of credit default swaps to insure the debt of Ford was 68 percent of the sum insured for five years, in addition to annual payments of 5 percent. That meant $ 6.8 million paid upfront to insure $ 10 million in debt, in addition to payments of $ 500,000 per year. In January 2009, Ford reported a $ 14.6 billion loss in the preceding year, a record for the company. The company retained sufficient liquidity to fund its operations. Through April 2009, Ford's strategy of debt-for-equity exchanges erased $ 9.9 billion in liabilities (28% of its total) in order to leverage its cash position. These actions yielded Ford

6784-450: The design. There were differences. The Opel's wheelbase was longer by 5 mm and the look of its radiator was different. The early Opels were mostly green whereas the early Citroëns were mostly yellow. Under the skin, the Opel had a twelve-volt electrical system at a time when most cars (including the Citroën 5 CV) used a six-volt system. And the Opel's four-cylinder water-cooled engine size

6890-475: The early 1930s, but already in 1931 the Laubfrosch was sometimes known simply as the Opel 1.1, reflecting its engine size in litres rounded to the nearest 100cc, and following the naming convention which Opel adopted across their range in 1931. The 4 PS ushered in Germany's age of mass motorisation, and was attractively priced on launch at RM 4,500. By 1930 Opel had produced 100,000 of these cars: initial investment costs had presumably by now been amortized, since

6996-455: The electric Mustang Mach-E SUV. According to Thatcham Research, an automotive research company, this model is not a self-driving car. It is classified as a level 2 or partial automation assistance system. This means that technology controls two or more driving aspects but still requires human driver control in cases of emergencies. The driver is still legally responsible for accidents. In August 2024 Pennsylvania State Police filed charges against

7102-408: The engine's displacement, a commission simplified the formula to: where: A new system was announced on 23 December 1977 to come into force on 1 January 1978 calculated by the following formula: where: From 1998 until January 2020, the fiscal tax depended on a standardised value of carbon dioxide CO 2 emissions in grams per kilometre (g/km) and the maximum engine power in kilowatts (kW). If C

7208-503: The established sidevalve layout could easily use very narrow bores. Despite OHV engines having significant benefits in economy, refinement and performance, the RAC system made these engines more expensive to own because it placed them in a higher tax class than sidevalve engines of identical power output. Despite this, by 1948 the Standard Flying Twelve, a typical mid-size saloon, produced 44 bhp (45 PS; 33 kW) from

7314-427: The fact that the car's engine size gave it a 4 tax horsepower (Steuer-PS) rating. Where a two figure name is used, as in 4/12, the second number is the claimed actual horsepower. The origins of the Laubfrosch soubriquet are not entirely clear, but may refer to the fact that Opel painted all the early cars green, which by tradition is a lucky colour in Germany. Emphasis on the green colour also served to differentiate

7420-471: The formation of Ford Smart Mobility, a unit responsible for experimenting with car-sharing programs, self-driving ventures and other programs aimed at helping Ford better compete with Uber , Alphabet Inc. and other tech giants looking to edge in on the auto industry. On April 25, 2018, Ford announced that it would discontinue passenger cars in the North American market in the next four years, except for

7526-403: The fuel tank in the Laubfrosch was housed along with the engine under the bonnet/hood. The footbrake operated mechanically on the drive shaft while a cable operated handbrake applied stopping power to the rear wheels. The wheelbase on these early cars was 2,255 mm (88.8 in). The 4/12 PS was produced through 1924 and 1925, with a few modifications in place for the second year, including

7632-436: The further coronavirus pandemic spread. In the first quarter of 2020, Ford's sales dropped by 15%, entailing the loss of $ 2 billion. With the change in the demand for the sport vehicles, on January 6, 2021, Ford reported a sales fall of 9.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 542,749 vehicles, compared to 601,862 in 2019. In April 2021, Ford said that it would provide COVID-19 vaccines for its employees, who were to obtain them at

7738-551: The future of plug-in hybrids in terms of how home and vehicle energy systems will work with the electrical grid. Under the multimillion-dollar, multi-year project, Ford is to convert a demonstration fleet of Ford Escape Hybrids into plug-in hybrids, and SCE is to evaluate how the vehicles might interact with the home and the utility's electrical grid. Some of the vehicles are to be evaluated "in typical customer settings", according to Ford. William Clay Ford Jr. , great-grandson of Henry Ford (and better known by his nickname "Bill"),

7844-434: The gains, the company finished the year with a $ 2.7 billion loss, largely attributed to finance restructuring at Volvo . On June 2, 2008, Ford sold its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors for $ 2.3 billion. During congressional hearings held in November 2008 at Washington D.C., Ford's Alan Mulally stated that "We at Ford are hopeful that we have enough liquidity. But we also must prepare ourselves for

7950-488: The industry. Mulally stated that "In addition to our plan, we are also here today to request support for the industry. In the near-term, Ford does not require access to a government bridge loan. However, we request a credit line of $ 9 billion as a critical backstop or safeguard against worsening conditions as we drive transformational change in our company". GM and Chrysler received government loans and financing through T.A.R.P. legislation funding provisions. On December 19,

8056-400: The job security they were seeking by having the company commit to substantial investments in most of its factories. The automaker reported the largest annual loss in company history in 2006 of $ 12.7 billion, and estimated that it would not return to profitability until 2009. However, Ford surprised Wall Street in the second quarter of 2007 by posting a $ 750 million profit. Despite

8162-574: The largest family-controlled companies in the world. The first gasoline-powered automobile was created in 1885 by the German inventor Karl Benz , with his Benz Patent-Motorwagen . More efficient production methods were needed to make automobiles affordable for middle class people. 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

8268-541: The mid-to-late 1990s, Ford continued to sell large numbers of vehicles, in a booming American economy with a soaring stock market and low fuel prices. With the dawn of the new century, legacy health care costs , higher fuel prices, and a faltering economy led to falling market shares, declining sales, and diminished profit margins. Most of the corporate profits came from financing consumer automobile loans through Ford Motor Credit Company . By 2005, both Ford and GM 's corporate bonds had been downgraded to junk status as

8374-490: The month, and that 37% of its sales came from fleet sales. In June 2010, sales to individual customers at dealerships increased 13% while fleet sales rose by 32%. In the first seven months of 2010, fleet sales of Ford for the same period rose 35% to 386,000 units while retail sales increase 19%. Fleet sales account for 39 percent of Chrysler's sales and 31 percent for GM's. At first, Ford in Germany and Ford in Britain built different models from one another until 1965, when

8480-456: The nature of British roads in the pre- motorway era, meant that British engines tended to deliver strong low- and mid-range torque for their size, but low maximum speeds. The long stroke also meant that piston speeds and the load on the big end bearings became potentially damaging at high power outputs. Many smaller British cars did not cope well with sustained cruising at 60 mph (97 km/h) or more, which led to reliability problems when

8586-420: The nearest whole number so a four-stroke engined car of 1,000 cc (61 cu in) would end up designated as a 4 PS (or four horsepower) car for car tax purposes. After April 1928, recognizing the logic of the linear relationship between tax horsepower and engine capacity, the authorities simply set car tax rates according to engine size for passenger cars. (For commercial vehicles vehicle tax became

8692-464: The past two years and will lose a similar amount in 2023 as the company looks to significantly invest in Electric Technology. The Ford Model E is expected to be profitable by 2026. In April 2023, United Kingdom ministers approved Ford's BlueCruise technology. Because of this assisted driving technology, Ford drivers can now legally take their hands off the wheel on certain roads. Its top speed

8798-493: The production of munitions, and subsequently applied the technique to production of the Citroën Type A . It was not merely the production system that Opel took from Citroën. The two-seater Opel 4 PS when launched in 1924 bore an uncanny resemblance to the little Torpedo bodied Citroën 5 CV which had been launched in 1921. Sources differ as to whether Opel purchased the right to assemble the Citroën under licence, or merely copied

8904-407: The prospect of further deteriorating economic conditions". He went on to state that "The collapse of one of our competitors would have a severe impact on Ford" and that Ford Motor Company supported both Chrysler and General Motors in their search for government bridge loans during the 2008–2010 automotive industry crisis . Together, the three companies presented action plans for the sustainability of

9010-433: The rate of 1 tax horse power for every 200 cm (12 cu in). The Cheval Fiscal , often abbreviated to CV from "chevaux-vapeur" (literally "steam horses") in tax law, is used for the issuing of French registration certificates known as "cartes grises" ("grey cards"). It is an administrative unit originally calculated partly from the power of the engine and used to calculate the amount of tax that may be due at

9116-540: The retirement of president and chief operations officer Jim Padilla in April 2006, Bill Ford assumed his roles as well. Five months later, in September, Ford named Alan Mulally as president and CEO, with Ford continuing as executive chairman. In December 2006, the company raised its borrowing capacity to about $ 25 billion, placing substantially all corporate assets as collateral. Chairman Bill Ford has stated that "bankruptcy

9222-422: The selling price had come down to 1,990  ℛ︁ℳ︁ . This was a deflationary period for the major European economies, but even in real money terms, the Laubfrosch became substantially cheaper during its production run. Germany's first mass-produced car could be priced to sell in the volumes that had, by 1930, established Opel, as Germany's leading volume auto producer. It is almost certainly because of

9328-429: The tax horsepower, calculated as follows: where: or 1.6/π = 0.51 times engine displacement in cc The limits between the horsepower denominations were drawn at either 0.49, 0.50, or 0.51 in different cantons. Thus, the eight horsepower category would cover cars of about 7.5–8.5 CV. In 1973 Berne switched to a taxation system based on vehicle weight, and a few other cantons followed. In 1986 Ticino switched to

9434-460: The time of registration. The Citroën 2CV (two tax horsepower) was the car that kept such a name for the longest time. Its use in France dates from 1 January 1913. It was updated in 1956, with further revisions in 1978 and a new emission-based system introduced in 1998. It was originally defined using the following formula: where: In a circular issued on 28 December 1956, the chevaux fiscaux

9540-482: The time were run using forced labor . The creation of a scientific laboratory in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1951, doing unfettered basic research, led to Ford's 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

9646-466: The two or three decades before the Second World War, continental cylinder dimensions were quoted in millimetres. As a result of rounding when converting the formula between the two measurement systems, a British tax horse-power unit ended up being worth 1.014 continental (i.e. French) tax horse-power units. In Belgium, the tax power depended on the cubic capacity of the engine in cubic centimetres at

9752-705: The use of this brand name was discontinued with the introduction of the Ford Transit in 1965. Elsewhere in continental Europe, Ford assembles the Mondeo, Galaxy , S-Max and Kuga in Valencia (Spain), Fiesta in Cologne (Germany), Focus in Saarlouis (Germany), Ecosport and Puma in Craiova (Romania). Ford also owns a joint-venture production plant in Turkey. Ford Otosan , established in

9858-674: The vehicles were exported to other markets, especially the United States . Cars such as the Austin A40 , the Morris Minor and the Hillman Minx all achieved notable initial sales success in the US in the late 1940s, until the short service life of the engines when asked to routinely drive long distances at freeway speeds became clear. Other imports originating in countries with different tax rules and existent high speed road networks, in particular

9964-668: The voting rights. During the 2008–2010 automotive industry crisis , the company struggled financially but did not have to be rescued by the federal government, unlike the other two major US automakers. Ford Motors has since returned to profitability, and 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 2023, Ford produced 4.4 million automobiles, and employed about 177,000 employees worldwide. The company operates joint ventures in China ( Changan Ford ), Taiwan ( Ford Lio Ho ), Thailand ( AutoAlliance Thailand ), and Turkey ( Ford Otosan ). Ford owns

10070-683: The world as Fordism . Ford's former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover , acquired in 1989 and 2000, respectively, were sold to the Indian automaker Tata Motors in March 2008. Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010. In the third quarter of 2010, Ford discontinued the Mercury brand, under which it had marketed upscale cars in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East since 1938. Ford

10176-654: Was accompanied by a further change in the carburetor specification. Three-seater bodies had by now disappeared from the list, but a new 2+2 cabriolet was introduced in 1930. The naming convention by which the Laubfrosch had been known as the Opel 4 PS became in one respect obsolete in 1928, since it defined the car in terms of its tax horsepower (Steuer-PS) . 1928 was the year in which the German finance office switched from levying annual tax according to "tax horsepower", taxing cars instead according to "Steuer-cm" (tax cubic capacity). Many German cars continued to be named formally or informally according to tax horsepower through

10282-423: Was also an increase in the range of body types offered along with some minor styling changes. For the first time the footbrake operated, still using a cable linkage, on all four wheels, and the suspension system was also reworked. The steering wheel was moved from the right side to the left, reflecting a more general trend in Europe at the time. The fuel filler cap which till now had been positioned centrally between

10388-490: Was appointed executive chairman in 1998, and also became chief executive officer of the company in 2001, with the departure of Jacques Nasser , becoming the first member of the Ford family to head the company since the retirement of his uncle, Henry Ford II , in 1982. Ford sold motorsport engineering company Cosworth to Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven in 2004, the start of a decrease in Ford's motorsport involvement. Upon

10494-879: Was calculated based on the overall engine displacement from its implementation. The German formula applied a higher tax horse-power factor to two stroke engine cars than to four-stroke engined cars based on the fact each cylinder in a two-stroke engine fires (has a power stroke ) every revolution whereas an Otto cycle or four-stroke cylinder only fires every second revolution . The formulae for calculating units of tax horsepower ( Steuer-PS ) were as follows: four-stroke engined cars = 0.30 × i × d 2 × s {\displaystyle 0.30\times i\times d^{2}\times s} two-stroke engined cars = 0.45 × i × d 2 × s {\displaystyle 0.45\times i\times d^{2}\times s} where: Incomplete fractions were rounded up to

10600-454: Was computed not from actual engine power but by a mathematical formula based on cylinder dimensions. At the beginning of the twentieth century, tax power was reasonably close to real power; as the internal combustion engine developed, real power became larger than nominal taxable power by a factor of ten or more. The so-called RAC horsepower rating was devised in 1910 by the RAC at the invitation of

10706-458: Was defined as: where: The result is multiplied by 0.7 for a four-stroke, diesel engine (also for wood gas-powered vehicles or those running on CNG ). Since ω {\displaystyle \omega } and K {\displaystyle K} are both constants while n {\displaystyle n} , D {\displaystyle D} , and L {\displaystyle L} combine to form

10812-706: Was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand, and luxury cars under its Lincoln brand. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford family . They have minority ownership but a plurality of the voting power. 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 . By 1914, these methods were known around

10918-514: Was going to cut 3,800 jobs across Europe, with the job cuts mainly focusing on their German and British workforce. Ford will be cutting 2,300 jobs from Germany, 1,300 from the United Kingdom, and an additional 200 jobs in the rest of Europe, according to the head of Ford Germany, Martin Sander. The cuts will mainly be done to the company's engineers. Ford also announced during the year that their electric vehicle business had lost $ 3 billion before taxes over

11024-552: Was introduced on April 17, 1964, during the 1964 New York World's Fair , where Ford had a pavilion made by The Walt Disney Company . In 1965, Ford introduced the seat belt reminder light. With the 1980s, Ford introduced several highly successful vehicles around the world. During the 1980s, Ford began using the advertising slogan, "Have you driven a Ford, lately?" to introduce new customers to their brand and make their vehicles appear more modern. In 1990 and 1994, respectively, Ford also acquired Jaguar Cars and Aston Martin . During

11130-463: Was larger, at 951 cc, than the Citroën's 856 cc. André Citroën nonetheless felt justified in launching a legal action against Opel, and it is not immediately clear just how Opel successfully defended their position. Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford ) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan , United States. It

11236-503: 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 Mercury, Edsel, and Lincoln into "M-E-L," which reverted to "Lincoln-Mercury" after Edsel's November 1959 demise. The Ford Mustang

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