NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL COORPORATION

Navistar International Coorporation -International Harvester Company (II) 1902 – present Lisle Illinois United States of America

Navistar International Corporation

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: NAV
Industry	Automotive
Predecessor	International Harvester Company
Founded	1902
Headquarters	Lisle, Illinois, United States
Area served	North America, South America, Russia, UK, Greece, Eastern Europe, India, Middle East, China, Singapore, South Korea
Key people	Troy A. Clarke, President, Chief Executive Officer Walter G. Borst, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Steven K. Covey, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Chief Ethics Officer
Products	Trucks Buses and School buses, Diesel engines Chassis
Revenue	10.775 billion USD(2013)
Number of employees	16,500
Website	www.navistar.com

Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional Corporation (for­merly In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Com­pany) is an Amer­i­can hold­ing com­pany that owns the man­u­fac­turer of In­ter­na­tional brand com­mer­cial trucks, IC Bus school and com­mer­cial buses, Work­horse brand chas­sis for motor homes and step vans, and is a pri­vate label de­signer and man­u­fac­turer of diesel en­gines for the pickup truck, van, hoes and SUV mar­kets. The com­pany is also a provider of truck and diesel en­gine parts and service.

Head­quar­tered in Lisle, Illi­nois, Nav­is­tar has 16,500 em­ploy­ees and an an­nual rev­enue of $10.775 bil­lion (in 2013). The com­pany’s prod­ucts, parts, and ser­vices are sold through a net­work of nearly 1,000 dealer out­lets in the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Mex­ico and more than 60 deal­ers in 90 coun­tries through­out the world. The com­pany also pro­vides fi­nanc­ing for its cus­tomers and dis­trib­u­tors prin­ci­pally through its wholly owned sub­sidiary, Nav­is­tar Fi­nan­cial Corporation.

History

The merger of Mc­Cormick Har­vest­ing Ma­chine Com­pany and the Deer­ing Har­vester Com­pany in 1902 re­sulted in the for­ma­tion of the In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Com­pany (IH) of Chicago, Illi­nois, which over the next three-quar­ters of a cen­tury evolved to be­come a di­ver­si­fied man­u­fac­turer of farm­ing equip­ment, con­struc­tion equip­ment, gas tur­bines, trucks, buses, and re­lated com­po­nents. Dur­ing World War II, In­ter­na­tional Har­vester pro­duced the M-se­ries of mil­i­tary trucks that served the Ma­rine Corps and the U.S. Navy as weapons car­ri­ers, cargo trans­porters and light ar­tillery move­ment. Today, Nav­is­tar pro­duces In­ter­na­tional brand mil­i­tary ve­hi­cles through its af­fil­i­ate Nav­is­tar Defense.

1986-1991: Transition from agricultural roots

In­ter­na­tional Har­vester fell on hard times dur­ing the poor agri­cul­tural econ­omy in the early to mid-1980s and the ef­fects of a long strike with the UAW over pro­posed work rule changes. IH’s new CEO, Don­ald Lennox, di­rected the man­age­ment or­ga­ni­za­tion to begin ex­it­ing many of its IH’s his­tor­i­cal busi­ness sec­tors in an ef­fort to sur­vive. Some of the sales of prof­itable busi­ness en­deav­ors were ex­e­cuted to raise cash for short-term sur­vival, while other di­vi­sions were sold due to lack of im­me­di­ate prof­itabil­ity. Dur­ing this pe­riod of ques­tion­able eco­nomic sur­vival, in an ef­fort to raise needed cash and to re­duce losses, the man­age­ment team led by Mr. Lennox at IH shed many of its op­er­at­ing di­vi­sions: Con­struc­tion Equip­ment Di­vi­sion to Dresser In­dus­tries; Solar (gas tur­bines) Di­vi­sion to Cater­pil­lar; Cub Cadet (lawn and gar­den equip­ment) to MTD Prod­ucts and, lastly, the Agri­cul­tural Di­vi­sion to Ten­neco, which merged it with their J.I. Case sub­sidiary. The Scout and Light Truck Parts Busi­ness was sold to Scout/Light Line Dis­trib­u­tors, Inc. in 1991.

After the Agri­cul­tural Di­vi­sion sale in 1985, all that re­mained of IH was the Truck and En­gine Di­vi­sions. The com­pany changed its name in 1986 to Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional Cor­po­ra­tion. (The In­ter­na­tional Har­vester name and IH logo were as­sets of the Agri­cul­tural Di­vi­sion and con­se­quently were part of the sale to Ten­neco; the IH name and logo are still in use, hav­ing been in­cor­po­rated into the Case IH brand name). In the early 1980s, IH de­vel­oped a se­ries of re­li­able large-dis­place­ment V8 diesel en­gines that were sold as an op­tion for heavy-duty Ford 3/4-ton and 1-ton pickup trucks.

Nav­is­tar still uses the “In­ter­na­tional” brand in its diesel en­gine and truck prod­uct lines, and the brand name con­tin­ues on in prod­uct lines of Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional’s In­ter­na­tional Truck and En­gine Cor­po­ra­tion subsidiary.

1990s-early 2000s: Rediversification

Dur­ing the 1980s and 1990s, the pop­u­lar­ity of diesel en­gines had made Nav­is­tar a lead­ing man­u­fac­turer of bus chas­sis, par­tic­u­larly school buses. The com­pany pur­chased one-third of Amer­i­can Trans­porta­tion Cor­po­ra­tion (Am­Tran), an Arkansas-based man­u­fac­turer in 1991, and the re­main­ing two-thirds in April 1995. By be­com­ing both a body and chas­sis man­u­fac­turer at the same time, Nav­is­tar gained sig­nif­i­cant mar­ket share in the in­dus­try. In 2002, Am­Tran was re­branded as IC (In­te­grated Coach) after a few months as In­ter­na­tional Truck and Bus.

After nearly a cen­tury of busi­ness in Chicago, Nav­is­tar an­nounced its plans on 30 Sep­tem­ber 2000 to leave the city and re­lo­cate its cor­po­rate of­fices to west sub­ur­ban War­renville, Illi­nois. The com­pany’s Mel­rose Park, Illi­nois plant is no­table for a sig­nif­i­cant work­place shoot­ing on Feb­ru­ary 5, 2001.

International MXT, the smallest of the

XT pickup trucks

In 2004, Nav­is­tar re-en­tered the re­tail ve­hi­cle mar­ket for the first time since 1980. The In­ter­na­tional XT (Ex­treme Truck) pickup truck was a se­ries of three pickup trucks. It was (by far) the largest pickup truck avail­able for re­tail sale and two of the three ver­sions (the CXT and RXT) were es­sen­tially

In­ter­na­tional Duras­tar medium-duty trucks fit­ted with pickup beds. The third ver­sion (the MXT) was es­sen­tially a street-le­gal ver­sion of aNav­is­tar-de­signed mil­i­tary ve­hi­cle. The three XT trucks were sold until 2008.

In 2005, Nav­is­tar pur­chased the Work­horse com­pany (started in 1998 by in­vestors who took over pro­duc­tion and sales of Gen­eral Mo­tors’ pop­u­lar P-se­ries Step­van chas­sis when GM dropped it), a man­u­fac­turer of step-van and motor home chas­sis, to seem­ingly re-en­ter the de­liv­ery van market. It ap­peared that the new sub­sidiary might also ben­e­fit by its as­so­ci­a­tion with a com­pany whose his­tory from the 1930s into the ’60s in­cluded the pop­u­larMetro van. For a short time Work­horse of­fered an in­te­grated chas­sis-body prod­uct called Met­roStar. In Sept. of 2012, Nav­is­tar an­nounced the shut down of Work­horse and the clo­sure of the plant in Union City, IN in order to cut costs.

2006-2008

Accounting issues

In Jan­u­ary 2006, the com­pany de­clared it would not file its form 10-K an­nual re­port with the U.S. Se­cu­ri­ties and Ex­change Com­mis­sion on time. The delay was caused by the dis­agree­ment with its au­di­tors, De­loitte and Touche, over com­plex ac­count­ing is­sues. In April, Nav­is­tar fired De­loitte, its in­de­pen­dent au­di­tor for 98 years, and hired KPMG to help re­state earn­ings back to 2002 to fix ac­count­ing er­rors. On De­cem­ber 15, 2006, Nav­is­tar ex­ec­u­tives an­nounced fur­ther delay of its re­state­ment and 2006 re­sults. The an­nounce­ment prompted the New York Stock Ex­change (NYSE) to an­nounce the delist­ing of the com­pany, after 98 years of trad­ing, al­though the NYSE sub­se­quently de­layed the delist­ing pend­ing an ap­peal by Nav­is­tar. How­ever, Nav­is­tar was re­moved from the S&P 500 Index, and the NYSE even­tu­ally de­nied Nav­is­tar’s ap­peal and delisted the stock; it traded on the Pink Sheets until 30 June 2008, when it was relisted on the NYSE, under its pre­vi­ous ticker sym­bol, NAV, after catch­ing up with its filings. Christo­pher An­der­son, the De­loitte part­ner re­spon­si­ble for the 2003 audit, ac­cepted a one-year sus­pen­sion from pub­lic au­dits in 2008, and be­came the first in­di­vid­ual to be fined by the PCAOB.

CEO Daniel Us­t­ian agreed to sur­ren­der to Nav­is­tar shares worth $1.3 mil­lion, while for­mer Chief Fi­nan­cial Of­fi­cer Robert C. Lan­nert con­sented to repay $1.05 mil­lion, each sum re­flect­ing mon­e­tary bonuses they had re­ceived dur­ing the re­state­ment pe­riod, the SEC said. Four other com­pany ex­ec­u­tives paid civil penal­ties with­out ad­mit­ting liability.

In De­cem­ber 2014, Nav­is­tar dis­closed more ac­count­ing prob­lems. These in­volved out-of-pe­riod ad­just­ments, which were cor­rec­tions of prior pe­riod er­rors re­lat­ing to prod­uct war­ranties. This re­sulted in a $36 mil­lion in­crease in Cost of Prod­ucts Sold. In ad­di­tion, a ma­te­r­ial weak­ness was dis­closed. In the com­pany’s an­nual 10K, they re­ported that weak­ness was “sur­round­ing val­i­da­tion of the com­plete­ness and ac­cu­racy of un­der­ly­ing data used in the de­ter­mi­na­tion of sig­nif­i­cant ac­count­ing es­ti­mates and ac­count­ing trans­ac­tions. Specif­i­cally, con­trols were not de­signed to iden­tify er­rors in the un­der­ly­ing data which was used to cal­cu­late war­ranty cost es­ti­mates and other sig­nif­i­cant ac­count­ing es­ti­mates and the ac­count­ing ef­fects of sig­nif­i­cant transactions.

Hybrids and Navistar Defense LLC, 2003-present

 International MaxxPro MRAP

In Oc­to­ber 2003, Nav­is­tar CEO Dan Us­t­ian an­nounced the com­pany would be form­ing a de­fense busi­ness unit in order to sell mil­i­tary ve­hi­cles. Nav­is­tar De­fense would be led by Archie Mas­si­cotte, a 26 year vet­eran of the com­pany. Us­t­ian stated “This is a nat­ural area of growth for In­ter­na­tional. We al­ready have all the plat­forms that the U.S. mil­i­tary and other NATO coun­tries could lever­age for prod­ucts and services.”

In 2007, Nav­is­tar’s In­ter­na­tional Truck and En­gine Cor­po­ra­tion be­came the first com­pany to enter hy­brid com­mer­cial truck pro­duc­tion, with theIn­ter­na­tional DuraS­tar Hy­brid diesel-elec­trictruck.

Nav­is­tar De­fense LLC is the prime sup­plier ofMRAP ar­mored ve­hi­cles to the US mil­i­tary. The Nav­is­tar 7000 se­ries has been fielded by the Cana­dian Forces for do­mes­tic op­er­a­tions. In 2005, the U.S. Army or­dered 2,900 7000-MVs for the Afghan Na­tional Army and Iraqi Min­istry of De­fense and an ad­di­tional order of 7,000 was added in 2008.

Nav­is­tar De­fense also has a small Cana­dian branch, named Nav­is­tar De­fence Canada.

Nav­is­tar De­fense re­ported sales of $3.9 bil­lion in 2008 and $2.8 bil­lion in 2009.

In Oc­to­ber 2009, the com­pany en­tered into a strate­gic agree­ment with Czech-based com­pany Tatra to jointly de­velop, pro­duce and mar­ket new mil­i­tary vehicles.

In De­cem­ber 2009, an­a­lysts were skep­ti­cal of the com­pany’s long-term po­ten­tial. “Nav­is­tar came out of nowhere and be­came a big player with MRAP, in what was a short-term pro­gram,” said Dean Lock­wood, an an­a­lyst at Fore­cast In­ter­na­tional Inc., a Con­necti­cut-based de­fense con­sul­tant. “They didn’t prove them­selves to be a long-term major player.”

In 2010, Nav­is­tar De­fense’s sales were $1.8 bil­lion. The com­pany’s 2010 An­nual 10K re­port stated “we con­tinue to ex­pect that over the long term our mil­i­tary busi­ness will gen­er­ate ap­prox­i­mately $1.5 bil­lion to $2 bil­lion in an­nual sales.”

In 2011, Nav­is­tar De­fense’s sales were $2.0 billion.

In 2012, Nav­is­tar De­fense re­ported $1.0 bil­lion in sales. Busi­ness In­sider ranked Nav­is­tar De­fense at 22 in the top 25 US de­fense companies.

In 2013, Nav­is­tar De­fense re­ported $543 mil­lion in sales. In the com­pany’s 10K fil­ing, they pro­jected mil­i­tary sales to con­tinue to de­cline, cit­ing U.S. bud­getary constraints.

In 2014, Nav­is­tar De­fense re­ported $149 mil­lion in sales. The com­pany pro­jected 2015 mil­i­tary sales to be slightly higher due to re­cent con­tract awards re­lat­ing to the gov­ern­ment’s MRAP fleet.

Contract awards, losses and other events

On Au­gust 22, 2012, Nav­is­tar De­fense lost their bid for the En­gi­neer­ing, Man­u­fac­tur­ing & De­vel­op­ment (EMD) con­tract worth $187 mil­lion for the Army and Ma­rine Corps’ Joint Light Tac­ti­cal Ve­hi­cle (JLTV) pro­gram. Nav­is­tar had pro­posed its Saratoga ve­hi­cle for the com­pe­ti­tion. On Fri­day Au­gust 28, 2012, Nav­is­tar filed a protest with the Gov­ern­ment Ac­count­abil­ity Of­fice (GAO), but pulled their protest on Tues­day, Sep­tem­ber 4, 2012.

On June 20, 2013, Nav­is­tar De­fense idled pro­duc­tion at their West Point, MS pro­duc­tion plant. 80 work­ers were no­ti­fied that July 5, 2013 would be their last day. West Point was best known for man­u­fac­tur­ing MRAP ve­hi­cles. The com­pany cited se­ques­tra­tion, the draw­down in Afghanistan and a chal­leng­ing en­vi­ron­ment in the de­fense in­dus­try as factors.

On Au­gust 22, 2013, Nav­is­tar De­fense lost their bid for the Ground Mo­bil­ity Ve­hi­cle (GMV) 1.1 con­tract, po­ten­tially val­ued at $562 million. Nav­is­tar had pro­posed its Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Tac­ti­cal Ve­hi­cle (SOTV) for the com­pe­ti­tion. On Tues­day Sep­tem­ber 1, 2013, Nav­is­tar De­fense and AM Gen­eral filed a protest. On De­cem­ber 19, 2013, the Gov­ern­ment Ac­count­abil­ity Of­fice (GAO) de­nied Nav­is­tar and AM Gen­eral’s protests.

In Jan­u­ary 2014, the Pen­ta­gon an­nounced they had no­ti­fied al­lies of their in­tent to give away or scrap 13,000 used MRAPs. This was due to the war in Afghanistan wind­ing down, the mil­i­tary want­ing a lighter ve­hi­cle and high cost to ship them from the mid­dle east back to the U.S. Re­cip­i­ents have in­cluded var­i­ous po­lice de­part­ments and some uni­ver­si­ties. Nav­is­tar De­fense built 9,000 of the 27,000 ve­hi­cles bought by the Pen­ta­gon. Giv­ing away the MRAPs was seen as a blow to Nav­is­tar De­fense’s parts sales.

In De­cem­ber 2014, Nav­is­tar De­fense lost their bid for the En­gi­neer­ing, Man­u­fac­tur­ing De­vel­op­ment (EMD) con­tract for the Ar­mored Multi-Pur­pose Ve­hi­cle (AMPV). BAE was awarded the $382 mil­lion con­tract on De­cem­ber 23, 2014.

Nav­is­tar De­fense lost their bid for Canada’s De­part­ment of Na­tional De­fence (DND) MSVS (Medium Sup­port Ve­hi­cle Sys­tem) Pro­ject – SMP (Stan­dard Mil­i­tary Pat­tern) ve­hi­cles con­tracts. They pro­posed their ATX8 ve­hi­cle as part of an agree­ment with Czech-based com­pany Tatra. The con­tract was for ac­qui­si­tion and in-ser­vice sup­port (ISS) of a fleet of up to 1,500 SMP ve­hi­cles, up to 150 Ar­mour Pro­tec­tion Sys­tems (APS) kits, and 300 Load Han­dling Sys­tem (LHS) trailers. Com­peti­tors in­clude Oshkosh (MTVR), BAE Sys­tems (FMTV), Daim­ler AG (Zet­ros), Re­nault Trucks (Kerax 8×8) and Rhein­metall/ MAN (HX77 8×8). A con­tract award de­ci­sion is ex­pected in June 2015. On July 16, 2015, Canada awarded the Ac­qui­si­tion and In Ser­vice Sup­port con­tracts to Mack De­fense, LLC (Re­nault Trucks).

On July 25, 2014, the DOD awarded a $27.6 mil­lion mod­i­fi­ca­tion to an ex­ist­ing con­tract to ac­quire mine-re­sis­tant, am­bush-pro­tected hard­ware kits to up­grade MaxxPro Dash and long-wheel base am­bu­lances to their final con­fig­u­ra­tion. Es­ti­mated com­ple­tion date is May 30, 2015.

On Au­gust 27, 2014, the DOD awarded a $38 mil­lion con­tract to Nav­is­tar De­fense to re­store MRAP Maxx Pro Dash ve­hi­cles to “like-new” stan­dards. The DOD re­ported that Nav­is­tar was the only bid­der. The work in­cludes adding in­de­pen­dent sus­pen­sion sys­tems and re­place­ment of manda­tory parts, with an es­ti­mated com­ple­tion date of June 30, 2016. Work will be per­formed in West Point, MS.

In Sep­tem­ber 2014, Nav­is­tar De­fense an­nounced they would hire 200 work­ers and re-open op­er­a­tions at their West Point, MS pro­duc­tion plant. West Point had been idle since June 2013 due to se­ques­tra­tion, the draw­down in Afghanistan and de­clin­ing orders.

In Sep­tem­ber 2014, amidst nu­mer­ous di­vesti­tures, Nav­is­tar Inc. CEO Troy Clark gave Nav­is­tar De­fense a vote of con­fi­dence, not­ing that the mil­i­tary busi­ness unit would be re­tained. In a Sep­tem­ber 2014 in­ter­view with Reuters he said “it’s not a bil­lion-dol­lar growth op­por­tu­nity, but it’s not some­thing that’s bleed­ing off the fu­ture for­tunes of our company.”

On Oc­to­ber 14, 2014, Nav­is­tar De­fense was awarded a $9.2 mil­lion firm-fixed price for­eign mil­i­tary sale (FMS) con­tract to Jor­dan for one hun­dred 4-ton 4×4 cargo trucks and twenty days of op­er­a­tor and main­te­nance train­ing. Work will be per­formed in New Carlisle, Ohio with an es­ti­mated com­ple­tion date of May 20, 2015. Bids were so­licited via the in­ter­net with nine­teen received.

On Feb­ru­ary 2, 2015, Nav­is­tar De­fense was awarded a $15,381,152 firm-fixed-price con­tract with op­tions for eight MRAP MaxxPro Hard­ware Kits to sup­port MaxxPro ve­hi­cle stan­dard­iza­tion and reset. Work will be per­formed in Lisle, Illi­nois, with an es­ti­mated com­ple­tion date of July 16, 2016. Bids were so­licited via the In­ter­net with one re­ceived. Fis­cal 2015 other pro­cure­ment (Army) funds in the amount of $15,381,152 are being ob­lig­ated at the time of the award. Army Con­tract­ing Com­mand, War­ren, Michi­gan, is the con­tract­ing ac­tiv­ity (W56HZV-15-C-0070).

On March 18, 2015, Nav­is­tar De­fense was awarded a $83,424,223 cost-plus-fixed-fee multi-year con­tract for sys­tem tech­ni­cal sup­port and sys­tem sus­tain­ment tech­ni­cal sup­port for MRAP MaxxPro ve­hi­cles. Fund­ing and work lo­ca­tion will be de­ter­mined with each order with an es­ti­mated com­ple­tion date of March 31, 2019. One bid was so­licited with one re­ceived. Army Con­tract­ing Com­mand, War­ren, Michi­gan, is the con­tract­ing ac­tiv­ity (W56HZV-15-D-0037).

On April 13, 2015, Nav­is­tar De­fense was awarded a $17,522,057 firm-fixed-price con­tract with op­tions to pro­cure seven Mine Re­sis­tant Am­bush Pro­tec­tion MaxxPro Dash hard­ware kits for MaxxPro ve­hi­cle stan­dard­iza­tion and reset. Work will be per­formed in Lisle, Illi­nois, with an es­ti­mated com­ple­tion date of Dec. 31, 2015. One bid was so­licited with one re­ceived. Fis­cal 2014 and 2015 other funds in the amount of $17,522,057 are being ob­lig­ated at the time of the award. Army Con­tract­ing Com­mand, War­ren, Michi­gan, is the con­tract­ing ac­tiv­ity (W56HZV-15-C-0092).

On April 30, 2015, Nav­is­tar De­fense was awarded a $31,199,783 mod­i­fi­ca­tion (P00004) to con­tract W56HZV-14-C-0102 for reset and up­grade of the MRAP (mine-re­sis­tant am­bush pro­tected) fam­ily of ve­hi­cles to Code-A stan­dards. Work will be per­formed in West Point, Mis­sis­sippi, with an es­ti­mated com­ple­tion date of July 31, 2016. Fis­cal 2013 and 2015 other pro­cure­ment (Army) and op­er­a­tions and main­te­nance (Army) funds in the amount of $17,990,419 were ob­lig­ated at the time of the award. Army Con­tract­ing Com­mand, War­ren, Michi­gan, is the con­tract­ing activity.

In April 2015, Nav­is­tar De­fense Pres­i­dent Bob Walsh re­signed. On May 19, Kevin Thomas was pro­moted to President.

2001-Present: Failed engine strategy, layoffs, consolidation and turnaround

Failed Engine Strategy

In 2001, then CEO Dan Us­t­ian faced nu­mer­ous EPA reg­u­la­tions to re­duce the amount of ni­tro­gen ox­ides and soot em­a­nat­ing from diesel en­gines. De­spite the change in the com­pli­ance arena, the reg­u­la­tions would not begin to be phased in until 2007, with full im­ple­men­ta­tion slated for 2010.

Us­t­ian had mul­ti­ple en­gi­neer­ing paths avail­able. Among them were Se­lec­tive Cat­alytic Re­duc­tion (SCR), Ex­haust Gas Re­cir­cu­la­tion (EGR) or the use of ni­tro­gen oxide ab­sorbers. All re­quired more en­gi­neer­ing and de­vel­op­ment to achieve com­pli­ance. Us­t­ian be­lieved truck­ers did not want to bother with an extra tank of fluid af­tertreat­ment. As a re­sult, he con­vinced the com­pany to spend $700 mil­lion to fund EGR development.

On Oc­to­ber 31, 2007, Nav­is­tar for­mally an­nounced their in­tent to move for­ward with EGR as the com­pany’s strat­egy. The com­pany state­ment in­cluded Us­t­ian men­tion­ing “I have pub­licly been an ad­vo­cate of cus­tomer friendly emis­sions con­trol so­lu­tions which do not add ad­di­tional costs to our truck and bus cus­tomers. While SCR is a means to achieve the NOx re­duc­tion re­quire­ment for 2010, it comes with a steep cost to our cus­tomers. Our abil­ity to achieve our goals with­out adding cus­tomer cost and in­con­ve­nience is a com­pet­i­tive ad­van­tage for International.”

On No­vem­ber 24, 2008, Nav­is­tar re­vealed it would use EPA Cred­its in order to com­ply with the 2010 legislation.

In Feb­ru­ary 2009, Us­t­ian touted the ben­e­fits of EGR tech­nol­ogy as a key dif­fer­en­tia­tor for the com­pany’s en­gines. How­ever, by now, the rest of the in­dus­try had cho­sen to use the com­pli­ant SCR tech­nol­ogy. Us­t­ian dis­agreed with SCR, say­ing “the other thing that EGR avoids is the risks of an SCR strat­egy. Read the label on this and it will show you that there are chal­lenges with keep­ing con­trol of using this tech­nol­ogy: ‘Store be­tween 23 de­grees and 68 de­grees.’ So es­sen­tially it says you can’t throw it out­side. You can’t op­er­ate it in con­di­tions above 85 [de­grees] or below 12 [de­grees]. You can, but, it will put the bur­den onto the cus­tomers.”

Non-Conformance Penalties

The EPA rec­og­nized Nav­is­tar’s im­mi­nent non-com­pli­ance and cre­ated a sys­tem of Non-Con­for­mance Penal­ties (NCPs) that in­cluded a $1,919 dol­lar fine for every non-com­pli­ant en­gine that Nav­is­tar sold. To bridge the gap, Nav­is­tar began using EPA cred­its it had pre­vi­ously earned for being com­pli­ant in lieu of pay­ing fines. In Au­gust 2012, Nav­is­tar stated they would run out of EPA cred­its soon. Only days ear­lier the EPA an­nounced in­creased new penal­ties of $3,744 per engine.

In March 2009, Nav­is­tar sued the EPA, claim­ing that the agency’s guid­ance doc­u­ments for SCR im­ple­men­ta­tion were in­valid be­cause they were adopted with­out a pub­lic process and with input only from the SCR en­gine mak­ers. Nav­is­tar and the EPA set­tled the law­suit a year later.

Fur­ther mask­ing the EGR prob­lem were high mil­i­tary sales. In the com­pany’s 2010 10K re­port, Nav­is­tar cited or­ders for MRAPs as off­set­ting flat com­mer­cial sales due to the recession.

Move to Lisle, IL

In Sep­tem­ber 2010, de­spite un­cer­tainty over EGR and a slug­gish econ­omy, Nav­is­tar lead­er­ship re­vived an ef­fort to re­lo­cate the com­pany head­quar­ters from War­renville, IL, to nearby Lisle, IL. The new head­quar­ters was ex­pected to re­tain or cre­ate 3,000 per­ma­nent jobs and about 400 con­struc­tion jobs. Nav­is­tar Pres­i­dent Dan Us­t­ian said roughly 500 en­gi­neers would be hired im­me­di­ately. Nav­is­tar aimed to in­vest $110 mil­lion in the 1.2 mil­lion-square-foot Lisle cam­pus, which would in­clude prod­uct de­vel­op­ment. The state gave Nav­is­tar in­cen­tives of nearly $65 mil­lion, in­clud­ing tax credits.

In March 2011, Nav­is­tar an­nounced the move to Lisle. Ren­o­va­tions were com­pleted in the fall, but the com­pany grad­u­ally moved from War­renville to Lisle in sum­mer 2011. “You can’t build a cam­pus like this any­where for any­where near the price we paid for this, and even though you might get more in­cen­tives, when you look at the whole pic­ture, you re­ally can’t beat it,” said Don Sharp, Nav­is­tar vice president.

In 2011, Nav­is­tar began phas­ing out its Truck De­vel­op­ment and Tech­nol­ogy Cen­ter (TDTC) in Fort Wayne, In­di­ana. In early De­cem­ber 2011, the com­pany laid off 130 em­ploy­ees, mostly en­gi­neers and de­sign­ers who were United Auto Work­ers members. In total, 300 out of 1,400 Fort Wayne em­ploy­ees even­tu­ally ac­cepted of­fers to re­lo­cate to Illi­nois. The other 1,100 work­ers ei­ther re­tired or chose to re­main in In­di­ana and find work elsewhere. The cost to move em­ploy­ees and con­sol­i­date op­er­a­tions was es­ti­mated to be $75 mil­lion. The only Nav­is­tar em­ploy­ees re­main­ing after De­cem­ber 2012 were 20-25 peo­ple man­ning the com­pany’s test track on Ox­ford Street. In late July 2015, the TDTC closed and the re­main­ing work­ers were let go.

In Jan­u­ary 2012, the EPA adopted an in­terim final rule that al­lowed Nav­is­tar to con­tinue sell­ing the en­gines sub­ject to NCPs. Sev­eral Nav­is­tar com­peti­tors sued, and in June 2012 the same ap­peals court ruled that EPA’s in­terim rule was in­valid be­cause it did not give the pub­lic no­tice and an op­por­tu­nity for comment.

In the mean time, Nav­is­tar’s EGR de­ci­sion had led to sig­nif­i­cant re­li­a­bil­ity and qual­ity prob­lems. Truck dri­vers began los­ing trust and con­fi­dence as Nav­is­tar ve­hi­cles were break­ing down fre­quently. Con­se­quently, they aban­doned Nav­is­tar trucks in favor of com­peti­tor’s trucks.

Tension Mounts

In June 2012, spec­u­la­tion mounted about a pos­si­ble takeover of the strug­gling truck maker. This came as hedge fund MHR Fund Man­age­ment LLC dis­closed a 13.6% stake in the com­pany, slightly higher than bil­lion­aire ac­tivist in­vestor Carl Icahn’s 11.9% stake. As a re­sult, Nav­is­tar adopted a poi­son pill de­fense. If the plan were trig­gered by an out­side in­vestor tak­ing a stake of 15 per­cent or more in the com­pany, then Nav­is­tar would issue its share­hold­ers rights that would let them buy new com­mon stock in the com­pany at a dis­count of 50 per­cent: For each share held, the in­vestor could buy $280 worth of new shares for $140. The in­vestor who took the 15 per­cent stake or more would not have the right to buy ad­di­tional shares.

In Au­gust 2012, Nav­is­tar an­nounced it would use Cum­mins en­gines and SCR technology. After 37 years with the com­pany, Dan Us­t­ian re­tired im­me­di­ately in Au­gust 2012 and left his po­si­tion on the board as well. For­mer Tex­tron CEO Lewis Camp­bell was named in­terim CEO and Troy Clarke was pro­moted to Chief Op­er­at­ing Officer. Us­t­ian’s sev­er­ance pack­age began at $7.9 mil­lion. The com­pany’s proxy state­ment dur­ing this time es­ti­mated the total pack­age to be $14.6 mil­lion, con­tin­gent on a share price of $42.07 on Oct. 31, 2011, the end of the com­pany’s fis­cal year.

On Sep­tem­ber 9, 2012, bil­lion­aire and key stock holder Carl Icahn sent an open let­ter to Nav­is­tar’s board, blast­ing them for “abysmal busi­ness de­ci­sions” and “poor cor­po­rate gov­er­nance.” Icahn noted from 2009-2012, that “this Board has au­tho­rized spend­ing share­holder money on law­suits against sup­pli­ers, com­peti­tors and reg­u­la­tors, mar­ket­ing plans to con­vince cus­tomers that non-com­pli­ant en­gines are ac­tu­ally com­pli­ant, ac­cu­mu­lat­ing non-core as­sets such as a Recre­ational Ve­hi­cle man­u­fac­turer, and a “gold-plated” cor­po­rate head­quar­ters that cost over $100 mil­lion. The one thing this Board re­fused to spend money on was a back-up plan in­volv­ing the in­dus­try stan­dard tech­nol­ogy Nav­is­tar now must rely on.”

In a Sep­tem­ber 2012 in­ter­view, Cum­mins CEO Tom Linebarger said, “all we did was act nice to them (Nav­is­tar) even when they didn’t talk nicely about us,” he smiled, re­call­ing harsh com­ments that Nav­is­tar ex­ec­u­tives had made about SCR being used by all its competitors.

In Oc­to­ber 2012, Chief Prod­uct Of­fi­cer Deepak Kapur stepped down, fol­lowed by Group Vice Pres­i­dent of Prod­uct De­vel­op­ment Ramin Younessi in De­cem­ber 2012. CIO Don Sharp also left the com­pany in April 2013.

Layoffs and consolidation

Au­gust 2012 fea­tured a Vol­un­tary Sep­a­ra­tion Pro­gram (VSP) as well as in­vol­un­tary lay­offs. This was due to the failed en­gine strat­egy, ris­ing war­ranty costs and de­clines in com­mer­cial and mil­i­tary sales. The com­pany let go 500 em­ploy­ees and in Sep­tem­ber 2012, an­nounced plans to lay off 200 more salaried employees.

In ad­di­tion, the com­pany an­nounced it would close its Gar­land, Texas man­u­fac­tur­ing fa­cil­ity by mid-2013, re­sult­ing in the loss of 900 jobs.

In March 2013, Nav­is­tar an­nounced that in­terim CEO Lewis Camp­bell would step down and COO Troy Clarke would be named CEO and Chair­man of the Board. Jack Allen was named COO. In June 2013, CFO A.J. Cederoth stepped down and James M. Moran, Nav­is­tar se­nior vice pres­i­dent and trea­surer, would act as in­terim CFO until a suc­ces­sor could be found. In late June 2013, for­mer Gen­eral Mo­tors ex­ec­u­tive Wal­ter Borst was named Ex­ec­u­tive VP and CFO.

In Sep­tem­ber 2013, Nav­is­tar an­nounced it would cut 500 more jobs amid a larger than ex­pected third quar­ter loss. Nav­is­tar re­ported a slower than ex­pected re­turn to prof­itabil­ity due to large mar­ket share losses, de­clin­ing sales and weak mar­ket conditions.

In May 2014, a third round of lay-offs in as many years oc­curred at the cor­po­rate head­quar­ters as part of on­go­ing cost cut­ting measures.

On July 31, 2015, Nav­is­tar ceased op­er­a­tions and laid off the re­main­ing 15 em­ploy­ees at the Truck De­vel­op­ment and Tech­nol­ogy Cen­ter (TDTC) in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Cost-cutting and divestitures

As part of the turn­around plan, Nav­is­tar ex­ec­u­tives cut costs ag­gres­sively. They cut SG&A costs by 16% in 2013 and cut prod­uct de­vel­op­ment spend­ing by 24%. In­terim CEO Lewis Camp­bell’s pri­or­i­ties in­cluded a focus on qual­ity, re­duc­ing the com­pany’s cost struc­ture and par­ing back its prod­uct line.

Nav­is­tar also sold sev­eral busi­nesses that it deemed were not pro­vid­ing enough of a Re­turn On In­vested Cap­i­tal (ROIC). Among them were their Monaco RV busi­ness as well as Work­horse Chassis. They also ex­ited their joint ven­ture with Mahin­dra  and sold off their E-Z Pack unit, which made bod­ies for garbage trucks, as well as its Con­ti­nen­tal Mixer unit, which made con­crete mix­ers, for prices the com­pany char­ac­ter­ized as “not material.”

In Jan­u­ary 2014, Forbes re­ported sev­eral key chal­lenges fac­ing Nav­is­tar, which in­clude de­clin­ing mil­i­tary sales, a pen­sion plan un­der­funded by $2.7 bil­lion, two self-dis­closed weak­nesses in ac­count­ing prac­tices and a new col­lec­tive bar­gain­ing agree­ment for the com­pany’s 6,000 full and part-time work­ers who are rep­re­sented by labor unions.

In Feb­ru­ary 2014, Nav­is­tar an­nounced it would move some en­gine pro­duc­tion op­er­a­tions from Huntsville, AL, to Mel­rose Park, IL by sum­mer 2014. The move elim­i­nated 280 jobs in Al­abama and saved an es­ti­mated $22 mil­lion. Nav­is­tar said it would keep two other diesel en­gine plants op­er­at­ing in Huntsville.

In Sep­tem­ber 2014, Nav­is­tar re­ported its best quar­ter in years. It an­nounced a third quar­ter net loss of $2 mil­lion, or $0.02 per di­luted share, com­pared to a third quar­ter 2013 net loss of $247 mil­lion, or $3.06 per di­luted share. It was also in Sep­tem­ber that CEO Troy Clarke an­nounced that the com­pany’s biggest di­vesti­tures were com­plete, and that the focus would now be on re­gain­ing lost mar­ket share.

On No­vem­ber 6, 2014, lead­er­ship changes con­tin­ued at Nav­is­tar, with Ex­ec­u­tive VP and COO Jack Allen re­tir­ing im­me­di­ately. Rather than hire a new COO, CEO Troy Clarke split the COO du­ties among three other executives.

Legal issues and struggle for profitability

In De­cem­ber 2014, the United States Ju­di­cial Panel on Mul­ti­dis­trict Lit­i­ga­tion or­dered that 13 of 14 civil law­suits brought against Nav­is­tar for MaxxForce en­gines would be con­sol­i­dated into one case. The con­sol­i­dated law­suits say Nav­is­tar’s use of Ad­vanced Ex­haust Gas Re­cir­cu­la­tion emis­sion con­trol sys­tem, or EGR, was de­fec­tive and re­sulted in re­peated en­gine fail­ures and fre­quent re­pairs and downtime.

On De­cem­ber 16, 2014, Nav­is­tar re­ported a larger than ex­pected 4th quar­ter net loss of $72 mil­lion. While sales rose 9 per­cent to $3 bil­lion, the com­pany cited re­struc­tur­ing and war­ranty costs as the main rea­sons for the loss. A day ear­lier, the com­pany an­nounced it would be clos­ing its en­gine foundry in In­di­anapo­lis, re­sult­ing in the loss of 100 jobs and cost­ing $11 mil­lion. The com­pany es­ti­mated an­nual sav­ings of $13 mil­lion in op­er­at­ing costs.

In March 2015, Nav­is­tar re­ported a first quar­ter 2015 net loss of $42 mil­lion, or $0.52 per di­luted share, com­pared to a first quar­ter 2014 net loss of $248 mil­lion, or $3.05 per di­luted share. Rev­enues in the quar­ter were $2.4 bil­lion, up $213 mil­lion or 10 per­cent, ver­sus the first quar­ter of 2014. The higher rev­enues in the quar­ter were dri­ven by a 17 per­cent year-over-year in­crease in char­ge­outs for Class 6-8 trucks and buses in the United States and Canada. This in­cluded a 42 per­cent in­crease in school buses; a 25 per­cent in­crease in Class 6/7 medium trucks; a 7 per­cent in­crease in Class 8 heavy trucks; and a 5 per­cent in­crease in Class 8 se­vere ser­vice trucks. Higher sales in the com­pany’s ex­port truck op­er­a­tions also con­tributed to the in­crease, par­tially off­set by a de­crease in used truck sales. The com­pany fin­ished the first quar­ter with a 27 per­cent year-over-year in­crease in order back­log for Class 6-8 trucks.

On June 4, 2015, Nav­is­tar re­ported a sec­ond quar­ter net loss of $64 mil­lion, or 78 cents a share, com­pared with a year-ear­lier loss of $297 mil­lion, or $3.65 a share. Rev­enue fell to $2.69 bil­lion from $2.75 bil­lion. An­a­lysts had ex­pected a loss of 18 cents a share and rev­enue of $2.82 billion.

On June 9, 2015, Nav­is­tar named Jeff Sass as the new Se­nior VP of North Amer­i­can Truck Sales. Sass pre­vi­ously worked 20 years for rival Paccar.

On June 12, 2015, Mark Rachesky’s MHR Fund Man­age­ment LLC dis­closed a 6% in­creased stake in Nav­is­tar, up to 15,446,562 shares. The firm now owns 18.9% of Navistar.

In July 2015, the En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency filed a civil law­suit against Nav­is­tar seek­ing $300 mil­lion in fines over its use of non-com­pli­ant en­gines in its 2010-model trucks – en­gines that did not meet the agency’s ex­haust emis­sion standards. “Be­cause (Nav­is­tar) com­pleted man­u­fac­tur­ing and as­sem­bling processes for the sub­ject en­gines in 2010 … each and every en­gine was ‘pro­duced’ in 2010 and is there­fore not a model 2009 en­gine,” the com­plaint said. Nav­is­tar clas­si­fied the en­gines as 2009 model year en­gines be­cause it began as­sem­bling them in 2009. Nav­is­tar has stated they dis­pute the al­le­ga­tions and would “ag­gres­sively de­fend” their position.

On July 20, 2015, Nav­is­tar an­nounced that it was re­fi­nanc­ing the $697.5 mil­lion se­nior se­cured term loan fa­cil­ity of Nav­is­tar, Inc., which ma­tures in Au­gust 2017, with a new $1.040 bil­lion se­nior se­cured term loan, which will ma­ture in Au­gust 2020. The re­fi­nanc­ing will ex­tend the ma­tu­rity of the term loan fa­cil­ity and pro­vide ad­di­tional liq­uid­ity and fi­nan­cial flex­i­bil­ity for the company.

Brands

International Trucks

 DuraStar Box (van body) truck

 ProStar® Semi tractor

 WorkStar Dump truck

In 1986, after the tran­si­tion from In­ter­na­tional Har­vester to Nav­is­tar, the truck prod­uct line (es­sen­tially all that was left) dropped the “Har­vester” por­tion of the brand name. In­ter­na­tional pro­duces a va­ri­ety of medium-duty, over-the-road, and se­vere-ser­vice trucks.

Pickups (XT-Series)

MXT (2004–2008)

CXT

RXT

Medium Duty

International TerraStar Class 4-5 conventional

International CityStar LCF (low-cab forward) cab-over

International DuraStar Class 6-7 conventional

Class 8

International LoneStar conventional

International ProStar+ conventional

International 9000 Series conventional

International TranStar conventional

Severe-service

International PayStar conventional

International WorkStar conventional

Navistar Defense

Pickup trucks

• International SOTV-A
• International SOTV-B
• International MXT-MV
• International MXT-MVU

MRAPs

• International MaxxPro

Class 8

• International ATX -6
• International ATX -8
• International 5000-MV
• International 7000-MV

IC Bus

Further information: IC Bus and AmTran

 IC Bus BE-Series school bus

In­ter­na­tional has a long his­tory in the school bus in­dus­try as a chas­sis provider, dat­ing to when school buses first be­came mo­tor­ized. In 1991, Nav­is­tar en­tered the school bus in­dus­try as a body man­u­fac­turer when it began its ac­qui­si­tion of Am­Tran, an Arkansas-based com­pany founded as Ward Body Works in 1933. Today, IC Bus pro­duces sev­eral mod­els of full-sized school buses along with buses for com­mer­cial use.

School/activity buses

AE-Series cutaway-cab conventional (based on International TerraStar)

BE-Series conventional (International 3300LP chassis)

CE-Series conventional (International 3300 chassis)

available in diesel-electric hybrid configuration

RE-Series rear-engine transit-style (International 3000 chassis)

Commercial buses

Along with com­mer­cial-use de­riv­a­tives of the school bus prod­uct lines, IC of­fers these dis­tinct products:

• AC-Series cutaway cab (based on International TerraStar)
• HC-Series cutaway cab (based on International DuraStar)
  • available in diesel-electric hybrid configuration
• LC-Series low-floor cutaway cab (based on International DuraStar LP)

Motorcoaches

IC Bus has in­tro­duced con­cept ve­hi­cles in both 40 feet (12 m) and 45 feet (14 m) lengths.

International Harvester/Navistar diesel engines

Further information: List of International Harvester/Navistar engines

In­ter­na­tional Truck and En­gine re­cently launched the “MaxxForce” brand name for its line of diesel en­gines. En­gines were re­branded as “MaxxForce” fol­lowed by a num­ber cor­re­spond­ing to the en­gine’s dis­place­ment, rounded up. So the 4.5L VT275 be­came the “MaxxForce 5. The Maxxforce Diesel en­gine line has re­cently been dis­con­tin­ued as a re­sult of Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional hav­ing many is­sues and re­ports of prob­lems with the en­gine. Ford con­tin­ued to use the Power Stroke brand name on their In­ter­na­tional-sourced en­gines. How­ever, the new 6.7L Power Stroke is not an In­ter­na­tional de­signed engine.

Joint ventures

Ford Motor Company

See also: Ford Power Stroke engine and Ford F-650

Since the 1980s, Nav­is­tar has had a close re­la­tion­ship with Ford Motor Com­pany. The re­la­tion­ship started out as an en­gine-shar­ing deal, but evolved into the pro­duc­tion of en­tire ve­hi­cles. How­ever, in May 2014, Ford cut Nav­is­tar out of the busi­ness of the F-650 and F-750 com­mer­cial trucks. Nav­is­tar had built them for Ford since 2001. Be­gin­ning in 2015, Ford plans to start mak­ing the trucks them­selves. It is ap­prox­i­mately a $400 mil­lion a year business.

Ford F-650, a product of Blue Diamond Truck

Ford PowerStroke diesel

As a re­sult of the gas crises of the 1970s, big-block gaso­line V8 en­gines (such as the Ford 460) had begun to fall out of favor with pickup-truck buy­ers. In the 1980s, diesel en­gines in Amer­i­can pickup trucks (in­tro­duced by Gen­eral Mo­tors in 1978) had be­come pop­u­lar, as they of­fered the power of a big-block V8 with the fuel econ­omy of a smaller en­gine. Ford en­tered into a sup­ply agree­ment with In­ter­na­tional Har­vester to re­ceive its 6.9 L IDI V8 en­gine. The first diesel-pow­ered Ford pickup trucks de­buted for 1982; it was avail­able for 3/4 and 1-ton mod­els. GM at the time had a De­troit Diesel V8 en­gine also on its debut, prior to that GM used a 350 Diesel. Dodge started using a Cum­mins six-cylin­der in 1988.

In 1994, when the In­ter­na­tional 7.3 L IDI V8 was re­placed by the T444E, the diesel op­tion was branded “Ford Pow­er­Stroke” to em­pha­size the switch to di­rect in­jec­tion. Through­out the 1990s and 2000s, Ford of­fered In­ter­na­tional/Nav­is­tar V8 (as the DT in­line-6 was far too large to pack­age in a pickup truck) in theFord Super Duty pickup trucks.

2004-15 F-750 Super Duty in use servicing a water pump

As of 2010, the 6.4 L Ford Pow­er­Stroke V8 was the last of the In­ter­na­tional/Nav­is­tar diesels used in Ford’s F-Se­ries Super Duty lineup. When Ford re­designed the Super Duty in 2011, it was fit­ted with a 6.7 L V8 de­signed and pro­duced by Ford.

Blue Diamond Truck

In 2001, Nav­is­tar formed a joint ven­ture with long­time (20 years) cus­tomer Ford Motor Com­pany to man­u­fac­ture medium-duty trucks and parts, in­clud­ing diesel en­gines for both par­ent com­pa­nies. The new com­pany, Blue Di­a­mond Truck Co. LLC, op­er­ates in the Nav­is­tar plant in Gen­eral Es­cobedo, Mex­ico. Its first prod­ucts were the

2004 Ford F-650 and F-750 medium-duty trucks.

Anhui Jianghuai Navistar

On 16 Sep­tem­ber 2010, Anhui Jianghuai Au­to­mo­bile Co., Ltd. (JAC) an­nounced joint ven­tures with NC2 Global and Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional Cor­po­ra­tion that will de­velop, build, and mar­ket heavy duty trucks and diesel en­gines in China.

Mahindra Navistar

Main article: Mahindra Navistar

Nav­is­tar formed a joint ven­ture with Mahin­dra & Mahin­dra to build heavy trucks in India under the “Mahin­dra In­ter­na­tional” brand, which has since been re­named Mahin­dra Nav­is­tar. These trucks were dis­played at Auto Expo 2010 in Delhi, India.

The Joint Ven­ture ceased as Nav­is­tar ex­ited the joint ven­ture in 2013.

Tatra

Tatra and Nav­is­tar De­fence in­tro­duced at Eu­rosatory Ex­po­si­tion in Paris, France (June 14–18, 2010) the re­sults of their strate­gic al­liance since Oc­to­ber 2009, the mod­els ATX6 (uni­ver­sal con­tainer car­rier) and ATX8 (troop carrier) The ve­hi­cles ap­pear to be based onTatra T815-7 (T817) 6×6, 8×8 chassis, sus­pen­sion and cab­ins while using Nav­is­tar en­gines and other components. Under the deal Nav­is­tar De­fence and Tatra A.S. will mar­ket the ve­hi­cles in North Amer­ica, which in­cludes sales to the United States mil­i­tary and for­eign mil­i­tary sales fi­nanced by the United States gov­ern­ment. Tatra will source parts and com­po­nents through Nav­is­tar’s global parts and sup­port net­work for Tatra trucks de­liv­ered in mar­kets out­side of North Amer­ica, as well as mar­ket Nav­is­tar-Tatra ve­hi­cles around the world in their pri­mary markets.

Others

• In 2005, Navistar purchased MWM International Motores, a Brazilian engine manufacturer formerly associated with Deutz AG.
• Navistar International has a contract with Budget Truck Rental to produce their rental trucks.
• Navistar entered into an agreement to purchase General Motors’ medium duty truck unit in 2007, but because of changing market conditions, the purchase was not concluded.

Plug-in electric vehicles

 eStar electric van in Los Angeles in 2010. The vehicle was manufactured in the U.S. under license from Modec.

 eStar delivery truck in Washington. D.C. in 2012

Plug-in hybrid electric bus

The U.S. De­part­ment of the En­ergy an­nounced the se­lec­tion of Nav­is­tar Cor­po­ra­tion for a cost-shared award of up to US$10 mil­lion to de­velop, test, and de­ploy plug-in hy­brid elec­tric ve­hi­cle(PHEV) school buses. The pro­ject aims to de­ploy 60 ve­hi­cles for a three-year pe­riod in school bus fleets across the na­tion. The ve­hi­cles will be ca­pa­ble of run­ning in ei­ther elec­tric-only or hy­brid modes that can be recharged from stan­dard elec­tri­cal out­lets. Be­cause elec­tric­ity will be their pri­mary fuel, they will con­sume less pe­tro­leum than stan­dard ve­hi­cles. To de­velop the PHEV school bus, Nav­is­tar will ex­am­ine a range of hy­brid ar­chi­tec­tures and eval­u­ate ad­vanced en­ergy stor­age de­vices, with the goal of de­vel­op­ing a ve­hi­cle with a 40-mile (64 km) range. Travel be­yond the range will be fa­cil­i­tated by a clean diesel en­gine ca­pa­ble of run­ning on re­new­able fuels. The DOE fund­ing will cover up to half of the pro­ject’s cost and will be pro­vided over three years, sub­ject to an­nual ap­pro­pri­a­tions.

eStar electric van

The eStar is an all-elec­tric van man­u­fac­tured in Wakarusa, In­di­ana. Pro­duc­tion began in March 2010 and first de­liv­er­ies began two months later. The tech­nol­ogy used in eStar was li­censed to Nav­is­tar in 2009 in a joint ven­ture with Modec and Nav­is­tar bought the in­tel­lec­tual prop­erty rights from the Modec’s bank­ruptcy ad­min­is­tra­tors in 2011. The in­tro­duc­tion of the eStar was sup­ported by a US$39.2 mil­lion U.S. De­part­ment of En­ergy stim­u­lus grant under the 2009 Amer­i­can Re­cov­ery and Rein­vest­ment Act.

The eStar has a 5,100 lb (2,300 kg) pay­load ca­pac­ity and is avail­able with a 14- or 16-foot cargo box. The ve­hi­cle is pow­ered by a 70 kW 102 hp elec­tric motor pow­ered by an 80kWhr lithium-ion bat­tery pack sup­plied by A123 Sys­tems, and also uses re­gen­er­a­tive brak­ing. The elec­tric van has a range of 100 mi (160 km), and a full charge takes be­tween 6 and 8 hours. By May 2010 the eStar had re­ceived U.S. En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency (EPA) and CARB cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. The eStar also meets all Fed­eral Motor Ve­hi­cle Safety Stan­dards (FMVSS).

The first vans were de­liv­ered in May 2010 to FedEx Ex­press for use in Los Angeles. Other cus­tomers in­clude Pa­cific Gas and Elec­tric Com­pany (PG&E), The Coca-Cola Com­pany, and Canada Post. The eStar has a price of US$150,000.

Criticism

In De­cem­ber 2011, the non­par­ti­san or­ga­ni­za­tion Pub­lic Cam­paign crit­i­cized Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional for spend­ing $6.31 mil­lion on lob­by­ingand not pay­ing any taxes dur­ing 2008-2010, in­stead get­ting $18 mil­lion in tax re­bates, de­spite mak­ing a profit of $896 mil­lion and in­creas­ing ex­ec­u­tive pay by 81%. On Jan 31, 2005, Nav­is­tar Fi­nan­cial said it would re­state fi­nan­cial state­ments for fis­cal years 2002 and 2003 and the first three quar­ters of fis­cal 2004, be­cause it did not take into con­sid­er­a­tion po­ten­tial changes to fu­ture in­come. On April 7, 2006, Nav­is­tar re­stated fi­nan­cial re­sults from 2002 through 2004, and for the first three quar­ters of 2005, due to ac­count­ing prac­tices that are the sub­ject of a con­tin­u­ing review.

Images

Navistar International Vehicles

2010 International LoneStarTractor Trailer IDF Custom International. IC Bus CE300 school bus International DuraStar medium-duty truck International 4700 SCD OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA SONY DSC OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Coca Cola eStar electric truck at Washington D.C. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Beaumont, TX, November 2, 2005- A contractor has the value of his load of brush and tree limbs estimated before he dumps it at an Army Corps of Engineers debris site. FEMA funds the Corps of Engineers debris disposal program. Photo by Ed Edahl/FEMA Honourary Colonel’s Dinner at 438 ETAH OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

International Harvester Company – NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION I

International Harvester – NAVISTAR INTERNATIONAL Corporation 1901 – present Warrenville Illinois USA

International Harvester Company

Industry	Agricultural, Automotive
Fate	renamed as Navistar International Corporation
Predecessor	McCormick Harvesting Machine Company Deering Harvester Company Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner etc.
Successor	Navistar International
Founded	1901
Founder	Cyrus Hall McCormick
Headquarters	Warrenville, Illinois
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Cyrus Hall McCormick,J.P. Morgan
Products	Farm Machinery, Vocational Trucks, Household Appliances, Passenger Vehicles, Construction and Industrial Equipment

 1939 Advertisement for International “Jungle Yacht” Tractor-trailer, for a luxury tour of the Belgian Congo.

 Advertisement for 1940 International Tanker Truck

The In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Company (ab­bre­vi­ated first IHC and later IH) (now known as  Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional Cor­po­ra­tion) was a United States man­u­fac­turer of agri­cul­tural ma­chin­ery, con­struc­tion equip­ment, trucks, and house­hold and com­mer­cial prod­ucts. In 1902, J.P. Mor­gan merged the Mc­Cormick Har­vest­ing Ma­chine Company and Deer­ing Har­vester Com­pany, along with three smaller agri­cul­tural equip­ment firms, to form In­ter­na­tional Har­vester. In 1985, In­ter­na­tional Har­vester sold off most of its agri­cul­tural di­vi­sion to Ten­neco, Inc., who merged it into its sub­sidiary J.I. Case under the Case IH brand. Fol­low­ing the terms of IH’s agree­ment with Ten­neco, In­ter­na­tional Har­vester re­named it­self Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional Cor­po­ra­tion in 1986.

• INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER DURING WORLD WAR II “THE STRONG SHALL BE FREE” 74342
• INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER Dealerships through the years.
• THE DAY INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER DIED IN MEMPHIS
• International Harvester 3444 Diesel Backhoe / Loader for Sale

History

Cyrus Hall McCormick patented an early mechanical reaper

Founding of the company

The roots of In­ter­na­tional Har­vester run to the 1830s, when Cyrus Hall Mc­Cormick, an in­ven­tor from Vir­ginia, fi­nal­ized his ver­sion of a horse-drawn reaper, which he field-demon­strated through­out 1831, and for which he re­ceived a patent in 1834. To­gether with his brother Le­an­der J. Mc­Cormick (1819–1900), Mc­Cormick moved to Chicago in 1847 and started the Mc­Cormick Har­vest­ing Ma­chine Com­pany. The Mc­Cormick reaper sold well, par­tially as a re­sult of savvy and in­no­v­a­tive busi­ness prac­tices. Their prod­ucts came onto the mar­ket just as the de­vel­op­ment of rail­roads of­fered wide dis­tri­b­u­tion to dis­tant mar­ket areas. He de­vel­oped mar­ket­ing and sales tech­niques, de­vel­op­ing a vast net­work of trained sales­men able to demon­strate op­er­a­tion of the ma­chines in the field.

Mc­Cormick died in 1885, with his com­pany pass­ing to his son, Cyrus Mc­Cormick, Jr., whose an­tipa­thy and in­com­pe­tence to­ward or­ga­nized labor sparked the Hay­mar­ket af­fair, the ori­gin of May Day as a labor hol­i­day. In 1902 the Mc­Cormick Har­vest­ing Ma­chine Com­pany and Deer­ing Har­vester Com­pany, along with three smaller agri­cul­tural equip­ment firms (Mil­wau­kee; Plano; and Warder, Bush­nell, and Gless­ner—man­u­fac­tur­ers of Cham­pion brand) merged to cre­ate the In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Com­pany. In 1919, the Par­lin and Oren­dorff fac­tory in Can­ton, Illi­noiswas a leader in the plow man­u­fac­tur­ing in­dus­try. In­ter­na­tional Har­vester pur­chased the fac­tory call­ing it the Can­ton Works; it con­tin­ued pro­duc­tion for many decades.

 An International Harvester tractor built in 1920

 1954 R-110 series pickup

The golden years of IH

In 1926 IH’s Far­mall Works began pro­duc­tion in a new plant in Rock Is­land, Illi­nois, built solely to pro­duce the new Far­mall trac­tor. By 1930, the 100,000th Far­mall was pro­duced. IH next set their sights on in­tro­duc­ing a true ‘gen­eral-pur­pose’ trac­tor de­signed to sat­isfy the needs of the av­er­age US fam­ily farmer. The re­sult­ing ‘let­ter’ se­ries of Ray­mond Loewy-de­signed Far­mall trac­tors in 1939 proved a huge suc­cess, and IH en­joyed a sales lead in trac­tors and re­lated equip­ment that con­tin­ued through much of the 1940s and 1950s, de­spite stiff com­pe­ti­tion from Ford, John Deere and other trac­tor manufacturers.

IH ranked 33rd among United States cor­po­ra­tions in the value of World War II pro­duc­tion contracts. In 1946 IH ac­quired a de­fense plant in Louisville, Ken­tucky, which was en­larged, ex­panded, and re-equipped for pro­duc­tion of the Far­mall A, B, and the new 340 trac­tors. Then in 1948 IH ac­quired the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Body Com­pany of Bridge­port, Connecticut. This was the man­u­fac­tur­ing fa­cil­ity for the bod­ies of the com­mer­cially suc­cess­ful Metro line of for­ward con­trol vans and trucks from 1938 until roughly 1964.

In 1974, the 5 mil­lionth IHC trac­tor was pro­duced at the Rock Is­land Far­mall plant.

Through­out the 1960s and 1970s, de­spite good sales, IH’s profit mar­gins re­mained slim. The con­tin­ual ad­di­tion of un­re­lated busi­ness lines cre­ated a some­what un­wieldy cor­po­rate or­ga­ni­za­tion, and the com­pany found it dif­fi­cult to focus on a pri­mary busi­ness, be it agri­cul­tural equip­ment, con­struc­tion equip­ment, or truck pro­duc­tion. An overly con­ser­v­a­tive man­age­ment, com­bined with a rigid pol­icy of in-house pro­mo­tions tended to sti­fle new man­age­ment strate­gies as well as tech­ni­cal in­no­va­tion. Prod­ucts with in­creas­ingly an­cient tech­nol­ogy con­tin­ued in pro­duc­tion de­spite their mar­ginal ad­di­tion to sales. Worse, IH not only faced a threat of strong com­pe­ti­tion in each of its main busi­nesses, but also had to con­tend with in­creased pro­duc­tion costs, pri­mar­ily due to labor and gov­ern­ment-im­posed en­vi­ron­men­tal and safety regulations.

Downfall

In 1979 IH named a new CEO, who was de­ter­mined to im­prove profit mar­gins and dras­ti­cally cut bal­loon­ing costs. Un­prof­itable model lines were ter­mi­nated, and fac­tory pro­duc­tion cur­tailed. By the end of the year, IH prof­its were at their high­est in 10 years, but cash re­serves were still too low. Union mem­bers be­came in­creas­ingly irate over pro­duc­tion cut­backs and other cost-cut­ting mea­sures. In the spring and sum­mer of 1979, IH began short-term plan­ning for a strike that seemed in­evitable. Then on No­vem­ber 1, IH an­nounced fig­ures show­ing that pres­i­dent and chair­man Archie Mc­Cardell re­ceived a $1.8 mil­lion (in 1979 val­ues) bonus. Mc­Cardell sought over­time, work rule, and other changes from the UAW, which led to a strike on No­vem­ber 2, 1979.

Soon after, the econ­omy turned un­fa­vor­able, and IH faced a fi­nan­cial cri­sis. The strike lasted ap­prox­i­mately six months. When it ended, IH had lost al­most $600 mil­lion (in 1979 value; over $2 bil­lion today).

By 1981 the com­pany’s fi­nances were at their low­est point ever. The strike, ac­com­pa­nied by the econ­omy and in­ter­nal cor­po­rate prob­lems, had placed IH in a hole that had only a slim way out. Things only got worse until 1984, when the bit­ter end came.

In­ter­na­tional Har­vester, fol­low­ing long ne­go­ti­a­tions, agreed to sell se­lected as­sets of its agri­cul­tural prod­ucts di­vi­sion to Ten­neco, Inc. on No­vem­ber 26, 1984. Ten­neco had a sub­sidiary, J.I. Case, that man­u­fac­tured trac­tors, but lacked the full line of farm im­ple­ments that IH pro­duced (com­bines, cot­ton pick­ers, tillage equip­ment etc.)

Fol­low­ing the merger, trac­tor pro­duc­tion at Har­vester’s Rock Is­land, Illi­nois Far­mall Works ceased in May 1985. Pro­duc­tion of the new Case IH trac­tors moved to the J.I. Case Trac­tor Works in Racine, Wis­con­sin. Pro­duc­tion of IH Ax­ial-Flow com­bines con­tin­ued at the East Mo­line, Illi­nois com­bine fac­tory. Har­vester’s Mem­phis Works in Mem­phis, Ten­nessee was closed and cot­ton picker pro­duc­tion was moved.

The truck and en­gine di­vi­sions re­mained, and in 1986 Har­vester changed the cor­po­rate name to Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional Cor­po­ra­tion (Har­vester had sold the In­ter­na­tional Har­vester name and the IH sym­bol to Ten­neco Inc. as part of the sale of its agri­cul­tural prod­ucts di­vi­sion). Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional Cor­po­ra­tion con­tin­ues to man­u­fac­ture medium- and heavy-duty trucks, school buses, and en­gines under the In­ter­na­tional brand name.

Divisions and products

 International 660 in rural Saskatchewan

Agriculture

The In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Agri­cul­tural Di­vi­sion was 2nd to the Truck Di­vi­sion but was the best-known IH sub­sidiary. When IH sold the agri­cul­tural prod­ucts di­vi­sion to Ten­neco in 1985, the In­ter­na­tional Har­vester name and “IH” logo, went with it.

One of the early prod­ucts (be­sides the har­vest­ing equip­ment that Mc­Cormick and Deer­ing had been mak­ing prior to the merger) from the newly cre­ated In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Com­pany was the Trac­tion Truck: a truck frame man­u­fac­tured by Mor­ton Trac­tion Truck Com­pany (later bought by IHC) with an IHC en­gine installed.

From 1902, when IH was formed, to the early 1920s, the Mc­Cormick and Deer­ing deal­er­ships kept their orig­i­nal brands unique, with Mogul trac­tors sold at Mc­Cormick deal­ers, and Titan trac­tors at Deer­ing deal­er­ships, due to the still pre­sent com­pet­i­tive­ness of the for­mer rivals.

The early tractors

 1911 one-cylinder 25 hp (19 kW) Type C Mogul

 1937 McCormick-Deering tractor on display at the Cole Land Transportation Museum in Bangor, Maine

IH pro­duced a range of large gaso­line-pow­ered farm trac­tors under the Mogul and Titan brands. Sold by Mc­Cormick deal­ers, the Type C Mogul was lit­tle more than a sta­tion­ary en­gine on a trac­tor chas­sis, fit­ted with fric­tion drive (one speed for­ward, one reverse). Be­tween 1911 and 1914, 862 Moguls were built. These trac­tors had var­ied suc­cess but the trend going into the mid-1910s was “small” and “cheap”.

The first im­por­tant trac­tors from IH were the model 10-20 and 15-30. In­tro­duced in 1915, the trac­tors (which were smaller than their pre­de­ces­sors) were pri­mar­ily used as trac­tion en­gines to pull plows and for belt work on thresh­ing ma­chines. The 10-20 and 15-30 both had sep­a­rate, but sim­i­lar, Mogul and Titan versions.

Around this time, IHC pur­chased a num­ber of smaller com­pa­nies to in­cor­po­rate their prod­ucts into the IH dealer ar­se­nal. Par­lin & Oren­dorff aka P&O Plow and Chat­tanooga Plow were pur­chased in 1919. Other brand names they in­cor­po­rated in­clude, but are not lim­ited to, Key­stone, D.M. Os­borne, Kemp, Mead­ows, Ster­ling, Weber, Plano and Cham­pion.

In 1924 IH in­tro­duced the Far­mall trac­tor, a smaller gen­eral-pur­pose trac­tor, to fend off com­pe­ti­tion from the Ford Motor Com­pany‘s Ford­son trac­tors. The Far­mall was a leader in the emerg­ingrow-crop trac­tor cat­e­gory.

 1954 IH Farmall Super C

Fol­low­ing the in­tro­duc­tion of the Far­mall, IH in­tro­duced sev­eral sim­i­lar look­ing “F Se­ries” mod­els that of­fered im­prove­ments over the orig­i­nal de­sign (the orig­i­nal model be­came known as the “Regular”).

In 1932 IH pro­duced their first diesel en­gine, in the Mc­Cormick-Deer­ing TD-40 crawler. This en­gine started on gaso­line, then switched over to diesel fuel. Diesel en­gines of this era were dif­fi­cult to start in cold weather, and using gaso­line al­lowed the en­gine to start eas­ily and thor­oughly warm up be­fore mak­ing the switch to diesel in all weather con­di­tions. In 1935 this en­gine was put in the In­ter­na­tional Har­vester WD-40, be­com­ing the first diesel trac­tor on wheels in North America (the world’s first diesel trac­tor was the Ger­man Benz-Sendling BS 6, in­tro­duced in 1922).

The letter and standard series

 A McCormick Farmall tractor.

For model year 1939, in­dus­trial de­signer Ray­mond Loewy was hired to de­sign a new line of trac­tors. The sleek look, com­bined with other new fea­tures, cre­ated what is known as the Far­mall “let­ter se­ries” (A, B, BN, C, H, and M) and the Mc­Cormick-Deer­ing “stan­dard se­ries” (W-4, W-6, and W-9). Model year 1941 saw the in­tro­duc­tion of the model “MD”, the first row­crop diesel pow­ered trac­tor; it would be over a decade be­fore IH’s largest com­peti­tor, John Deere, would in­tro­duce a diesel op­tion on their row­crop trac­tors. The let­ter se­ries trac­tors were up­dated to the “super” se­ries in 1953 (with the ex­cep­tion of the A, which had be­come a “super” in 1947, and the B and BN, which were dis­con­tin­ued in 1948) and re­ceived sev­eral im­prove­ments. Many of these trac­tors (es­pe­cially the largest: the H, M, and W mod­els) are still in op­er­a­tion on farms today. Es­pe­cially de­sir­able are the diesel-pow­ered MD, WD-6, and WD-9. These trac­tors car­ried for­ward the unique gaso­line start diesel con­cept of the WD-40.

The let­ter and stan­dard se­ries of trac­tors was pro­duced until 1954, and was a defin­ing prod­uct in IH history.

In 1947, the small­est trac­tor in the Far­mall line was in­tro­duced, the Cub. With a 60 cu. in. four-cylin­der en­gine and a 69-inch wheel­base, the Cub was aimed at small farms such as truck farms, horse farms, and other small acreages that had pre­vi­ously con­tin­ued to rely on horse-drawn equip­ment. Like the var­i­ous John Deere L/LA/LI mod­els, one of the “mech­a­niza­tion-re­sis­tant” mar­kets it hoped to pen­e­trate was the small, poor, one-mule fam­ily farms of the rural Amer­i­can Deep South. But the Cub also sold to own­ers of larger farms who re­quired a sec­ond trac­tor. Pro­duc­tion of the Cub com­menced at the newly ac­quired Far­mall Works-Louisville plant (for­merly the wartime Cur­tiss-Wright Air­craft fac­tory in Louisville, Ken­tucky) which was ex­panded, re­mod­eled, and re-equipped. Sell­ing for $545.00 in 1947, the Cub proved ex­tremely pop­u­lar, and the orig­i­nal de­sign con­tin­ued in pro­duc­tion with­out sig­nif­i­cant al­ter­ation until 1979.

For 1955 in IH trac­tors, the num­bered “hun­dred-se­ries” was of­fered. Al­though given slightly dif­fer­ent looks and few new fea­tures, they were still up­dates to the mod­els in­tro­duced in 1939. The only new trac­tor in the 1955 lineup was the 300 Util­ity. In 1957 IH gave the trac­tor lineup an­other up­date by in­creas­ing power in some mod­els, adding a new 230 Util­ity model, and adding new white paint to the grill and sides, and giv­ing new num­ber des­ig­na­tions. This im­proved sales at the time, but IH’s in­abil­ity to change and up­date was al­ready showing.

60 Series recall

In July 1958, IH launched a major cam­paign to in­tro­duce a new line of trac­tors to re­vi­tal­ize slump­ing sales. At the Hins­dale, Illi­nois, Test­ing Farm, IH en­ter­tained over 12,000 deal­ers from over 25 coun­tries. IH showed off their new “60” se­ries of trac­tors: in­clud­ing the big, first-of-its-kind, six-cylin­der 460 and 560 trac­tors. But the joy of the new line of trac­tors was short lived. One of the first events that would even­tu­ally lead to the down­fall of IH pre­sented it­self in 1959. In June of that year, IH re­called the 460, 560, and 660 trac­tors: final drive com­po­nents had failed. IH, who wanted to be the first big-power man­u­fac­turer, had failed to dras­ti­cally up­date the final dri­ves on the new six-cylin­der trac­tors. These final dri­ves were es­sen­tially un­changed from 1939 and would fail rapidly under the stress of the more pow­er­ful 60-se­ries en­gines. IH’s com­peti­tors took ad­van­tage of the re­call, and IH would lose cus­tomers in the en­su­ing months, with many cus­tomers mov­ing to John Deere‘s New Gen­er­a­tion of Power trac­tors in­tro­duced in 1960.

1960s

Through­out the 1960s IH in­tro­duced new trac­tors and new sales tech­niques. As pro­duc­ing trac­tors was the lifeblood of the com­pany, IH would have to re­main com­pet­i­tive in this field. They both suc­ceeded and failed at this goal. But farm­ing was about to change, and IH and its com­peti­tors were in for a bumpy ride. In 1963 IH in­tro­duced the 73 hp (54 kW) 706 and 95 hp (71 kW) 806 trac­tors. In 1964 IH made its 4 mil­lionth trac­tor, an 806. In 1965 IH in­tro­duced its first 100 hp (75 kW) two-wheel-drive trac­tor, the 1206. An­other op­tion be­came avail­able in 1965 for the 706, 806, and the new 1206: a fac­tory-in­stalled cab (made by Sto­pler Allen Co.). This cab is often called the “Ice Cream Box” cab due to its shape. The cab could be equipped with a fan and heater. By 1967, over 100,000 mod­els 706, 806, and 1206 were built. The 276 In­ter­na­tional har­vester was also built at this pe­riod of time be­com­ing pop­u­lar for smaller farms with tighter lanes and fields due to mo­bil­ity and weight mak­ing the 276 a pop­u­lar seller boost­ing In­ter­na­tional Har­vester’s slim profits.

1967 saw the in­tro­duc­tion of the “56” se­ries trac­tors as re­place­ments for the suc­cess­ful and pop­u­lar “06” se­ries. These new “56s” were big­ger and more pow­er­ful than the “06s”. The new mod­els in­cluded the 65 hp (48 kW) 656, 76 hp (57 kW) 756, the 101 hp (75 kW) 856, and the 116 hp (87 kW) 1256. The “ice cream box” cab was still an op­tion. In 1969 IH in­tro­duced the 1456 Turbo at 131 hp (98 kW). Also that year, the 91 hp (68 kW) 826 was in­tro­duced with the op­tion of gearshift or hy­dro­sta­tic trans­mis­sions. The “ice cream box” cab was dropped and re­placed with the new “cus­tom” cab made by Exel In­dus­tries, which could be equipped with fac­tory air-con­di­tion­ing, heat, and an AM radio. An­other mile­stone for IH was the 1970 in­tro­duc­tion of the 1026 Hydro which was ba­si­cally a hy­dro­sta­tic ver­sion of the 1256, at that time the most pow­er­ful hy­dro­sta­tic trans­mis­sion trac­tor made in the US at 114 hp (85 kW).

1970s

In 1971 IH in­tro­duced the 66 se­ries line. The new mod­els in­cluded the 85 hp (63 kW) 766, the 101 hp (75 kW) 966, the 125 hp (93 kW) 1066 turbo, the 145 hp (108 kW) 1466 Turbo, and the 145 hp (108 kW) 1468 V-8. The 130 hp (97 kW) 4166 4WD was also in­tro­duced. The 966 and 1066 were avail­able with Hydro or gearshift trans­mis­sions and the choice of two-post ROPs or two dif­fer­ent cabs, the “cus­tom” and the “deluxe”. Both could be equipped with A/C, heat, and AM-FM radios.

In 1972 the 666 re­placed the long-run­ning 656, the 150 hp (110 kW) 1568 V8 re­placed the 1468, and the 160 hp (120 kW) 1566 and the 163 hp (122 kW) 4366 4WD were in­tro­duced. Also later that year, four-post ROPs re­placed two-post; The “cus­tom” cab was dropped and the “deluxe” cab was now painted red in­stead of white. Due to horse­power con­fu­sions the 966 and 1066 Hydro mod­els were re­striped; the Hydro 100 and the 666 Hydro be­came the Hydro 70. On Feb­ru­ary 1, 1974 at 9:00 am, the 5 mil­lionth trac­tor came off the as­sem­bly line at the Far­mall Plant in Illi­nois. IH was the first trac­tor man­u­fac­turer to ac­com­plish this. Also in 1973, IH of­fi­cially dropped the “Far­mall” name from its trac­tor. This ended an era that began with the first Far­mall “Reg­u­lar” back in 1924.

The 230 hp (170 kW) 4568 V8 4WD was in­tro­duced in 1975. In 1976 the en­tire trac­tor line got a new paint job and decal pat­tern. No longer were the side pan­els all white with chrome and black de­cals: they were now all red with a black striped sticker. This was done to clear in­ven­tory for the forth­com­ing “Pro Ag Line”.

In Sep­tem­ber 1976 IH re­leased their 86 se­ries “Pro Ag Line”. The mod­els in­cluded the 80 hp (60 kW) 786, the 90 hp (67 kW) 886, the 101 hp (75 kW) 986, the 104 hp (78 kW) 186 Hydro, the 135 hp (101 kW) 1086, the 146 hp (109 kW) 1486 and the 161 hp (120 kW) 1586. These new trac­tors had a new cab dubbed the “Con­trol Cen­ter” that came stan­dard with A/C, heat, and sev­eral radio/CB op­tions. The dri­ver sat well ahead of the rear axle and the fuel tank was mounted be­hind the cab over the rear axle. This in­creased bal­ance and ride. Also in 1976, the 62 hp (46 kW) 686 along with the “86” se­ries four-wheel-dri­ves were in­tro­duced, in­clud­ing the 4186, 4586, and 4786.

In 1977 In­ter­na­tional Har­vester in­tro­duced the first Ax­ial-Flow ro­tary com­bine. This ma­chine, pro­duced at East Mo­line, Illi­nois, was the first gen­er­a­tion of over 30 years of Ax­ial-Flow combines.

In 1979 IH in­tro­duced two all-new trac­tors: the 3388 and 3588, known as the 2+2 4wd line. These trac­tors were the re­sult of tak­ing two 1086 rear ends and hook­ing them to­gether with a trans­fer case. A year later, the 3788 was in­tro­duced. De­spite the fact these trac­tors per­formed well in the field, they never sold well.

1980s

As the 1980s began, IH was ready to climb from its own de­pres­sion and be­come a leader once more. IH would face a sta­ble econ­omy, yet it would face an un­known fate. In Sep­tem­ber 1981, IH an­nounced at a deal­er­ship meet­ing the new “50 Se­ries” of trac­tors, which in­cluded the 136 hp (101 kW) 5088, the 162 hp (121 kW) 5288 and the 187 hp (139 kW) 5488. IH also re­leased the “30 se­ries”, which in­cluded the 81 hp (60 kW) 3088, the 90 hp (67 kW) 3288 the 112 hp (84 kW) 3488Hy­dro and the 113 hp (84 kW) 3688. These new trac­tors would prove once again that IH had the in­no­va­tion to come out on top. De­signed and styled by IH in­dus­trial de­signer Gregg Mont­gomery, whose firm (Mont­gomery De­sign In­ter­na­tional) later de­signed the Case IH “Mag­num” se­ries trac­tors, the new styl­ish de­sign of the “50 Se­ries and 30 se­ries would change the look of trac­tors from that time for­ward. IH spent over $29 mil­lion to de­velop this new se­ries, and the re­sult was the last great lineup of trac­tors from In­ter­na­tional Harvester.

There were many tech­nol­ogy-re­lated in­no­va­tions in the new se­ries. A com­puter mon­i­tor­ing sys­tem (“Sen­try”) was de­vel­oped, and IH be­came the first man­u­fac­turer to add a com­puter to a farm trac­tor. Other in­no­va­tions in­cluded a “z” shift pat­tern, an 18-speed syn­chro­nized trans­mis­sion, a for­ward air flow cool­ing sys­tem which sucked air from above the hood and blew it out the front grille, “Power Pri­or­ity” 3-pump hy­draulic sys­tem, color-coded hy­draulic lines and con­trols, and a new rear-hitch sys­tem. The 50 Se­ries had an un­prece­dented three-year or 2,500-hour en­gine and drive-train war­ranty, which would later be­come an in­dus­try stan­dard. Al­though no new sales records were set, IH sold a re­spectable amount of these trac­tors dur­ing its short pro­duc­tion time. IH also re­leased the “60 se­ries 2+2s” and planned on mak­ing the “Su­per70 se­ries” 2+2s but only a hand­ful of these exist today. On May 14, 1985 the last IH trac­tor rolled off the fac­tory line, a 5488 FWA.

IH was well into the de­vel­op­ment of a new line of trac­tors that would rev­o­lu­tion­ize the ways of farm­ing when the sale of the agri­cul­tural prod­ucts di­vi­sion was an­nounced. Many of these new fea­tures would find their way into the new se­ries of MAG­NUM trac­tors in­tro­duced by Case IH in 1987.

In the late 1970s IH en­tered a deal with Spain’s Enasa to build diesel en­gines there as In­ter­na­cional de Motores. After a down­turn in the mar­ket cou­pled to prob­lems with Spain’s entry into the EEC threat­ened the prof­itabil­ity of this pro­ject, In­ter­na­tional Har­vester with­drew in 1982. In re­turn for being al­lowed to es­cape all con­di­tions of the joint ven­ture, IH lost their up front in­vest­ment in the en­gine plant and ended up sell­ing British truck man­u­fac­turer Sed­don Atkin­son (which had be­longed to IH since 1974) to Enasa in 1983.

Brand names of the Ag division

 McCormick Deering Tractor

IH over the years used a num­ber of brand names to mar­ket their trac­tor and har­vest­ing products:

• International (1902–1985)
• Titan (1910–1924)
• Mogul (1911–1924)
• McCormick–Deering (1922–1947)
• McCormick (1947–1958)
• Farmall (1924–1973)
• Fairway (1924–1938)
• Electrall (1954–1956)

Other agricultural products

Along with the promi­nent trac­tor di­vi­sion, IH also sold sev­eral dif­fer­ent types of farm-re­lated equip­ment, such as balers, cul­ti­va­tors, com­bines (self-pro­pelled and pull be­hind), com­bine heads, corn shellers, cot­ton pick­ers, ma­nure spread­ers, hay rakes, crop dusters, disk har­rows, el­e­va­tors, feed grinders, ham­mer mills, hay con­di­tion­ers, milk­ing ma­chines, planters, mills, discs, plows and var­i­ous mis­cel­la­neous equipment.

Also pro­duced were twine, sta­tion­ary en­gines, load­ers, and wagons.

Electrall

The Elec­trall sys­tem was in­tro­duced in 1954; it was a short-lived at­tempt to mar­ket elec­tri­cally op­er­ated farm equip­ment and ac­ces­sories. The sys­tem, co-de­vel­oped with Gen­eral Elec­tric, con­sisted of a 208Vthree phaseal­ter­nat­ing cur­rent gen­er­a­tor con­nected with elec­tric ca­bles to the de­vice to be pow­ered. The gen­er­a­tor could even power a house­hold. A 10 kW Elec­trall gen­er­a­tor was an op­tion on the Far­mall 400 tractor, and there also was a 12.5 kW PTO-dri­ven ver­sion. The pos­si­ble ap­pli­ca­tions of Elec­trall power were many, but few made it to mar­ket. IH mar­ket­ing ma­te­ri­als showed a hay­baler being Elec­trall pow­ered. One of the more novel ap­pli­ca­tions of the Elec­trall was a de­vice to elec­tro­cute in­sects in the field at night (ba­si­cally like a mod­ern-day bug zap­per, but on a larger scale).

Vehicles

Light duty trucks

 1911 International Harvester Auto Wagon

 1927 International one-ton stakebed

 1954 R-110 series pickup

 1957 A-series pickup

 1961–1962 IHC C-120 Travelette

 1956 international pickup.jpg.

IH is often re­mem­bered as a maker of rel­a­tively suc­cess­ful and in­no­v­a­tive “light” lines of ve­hi­cles, com­pet­ing di­rectly against the Big 3. The most com­mon were pickuptrucks. IH made light trucks from 1907 to 1975, be­gin­ning with the Model A Auto Wagon (some­times called the “Auto Buggy”). Pro­duc­tion com­menced in Feb­ru­ary 1907 at IH’s Mc­Cormick Works in Chicago, al­though pro­duc­tion was moved to Akron, Ohio in Oc­to­ber that year. Pow­ered by a hor­i­zon­tally op­posed air-cooled twin of around 15 hp (11 kW), it was a right-hand-drive model pop­u­lar in rural areas for high ground clear­ance on the poor roads typ­i­cal of the era. It fea­tured a rear seat con­vert­ible to a car­rier bed. The Auto Wagon was re­named the Motor Truck in 1910, and was a fore­run­ner to the suc­cess­ful mod­ern pickup truck. They were called IHC until 1914, when the ‘In­ter­na­tional’ name was first applied. The final light line truck was made on May 5, 1975.

IH also had early suc­cess with the “Auto Buggy”, which started pro­duc­tion in Feb­ru­ary 1907. In the mid-1940s, In­ter­na­tional re­leased their K and KB se­ries trucks, which were more sim­plis­tic than other trucks re­leased in that era. This was fol­lowed by the L Se­ries in 1949, which was re­placed by the R Se­ries in 1952, fol­lowed by the S line in 1955. In 1957, to cel­e­brate IH’s golden an­niver­sary as a truck man­u­fac­turer, this was re­placed by the new A line. ‘A’ stands for anniver­sary. With light mod­i­fi­ca­tions to its ap­pear­ance but more se­ri­ous changes under the shell (and a num­ber of new names), this de­sign con­tin­ued in pro­duc­tion until re­placed by the 1100D in late 1969, which looked very sim­i­lar to the Scout.

Cor­re­spond­ing with the truck “let­ter lines” was the Metro line of step (de­liv­ery) vans. Start­ing in 1938 and man­u­fac­tured through 1975, the Metro se­ries was pro­duced and up­dated with each it­er­a­tion of IH’s truck lines. There were also spe­cial use vari­ants such as the Metro Coach (a bus ver­sion with win­dows and pas­sen­ger seats) and Metro front-end sec­tion and chas­sis for full com­mer­cial cus­tomiza­tion. Ad­di­tional vari­ants were based on the medium duty en­gine and chas­sis lines.

One of the com­pany’s light-duty ve­hi­cles was the Trav­e­lall, which was sim­i­lar in con­cept to the Chevro­let Sub­ur­ban. The Trav­elette was a crew cab, avail­able in 2 or 4 wheel drive. A 3-door ver­sion was avail­able start­ing in 1957, and a 4-door ver­sion was avail­able start­ing in 1961. The 1961 Trav­elette 4-door (crew­cab) was the first 6-pas­sen­ger, 4-door truck of its time. The Scout, first in­tro­duced in 1961, is a small two-door SUV, sim­i­lar to a Jeep. In 1972 the Scout be­came the Scout II, and in 1974 Dana 44 axles, power steer­ing and power disk brakes be­came stan­dard. After the Light Line pick­ups and Trav­e­lall were dis­con­tin­ued in 1975, the Scout Trav­eler and Terra be­came avail­able, both with a longer wheel­base than a stan­dard Scout II.

IH would aban­don sales of pas­sen­ger ve­hi­cles in 1980 to con­cen­trate on com­mer­cial trucks and school buses. Today the pick­ups, Trav­e­lalls, and Scouts are minor cult or­phaned ve­hi­cles. All were also avail­able as rugged four-wheel driveoff-road ve­hi­cles.

The Scout and Light Truck parts busi­ness was sold to Scout/Light Line Dis­trib­u­tors, Inc. in 1991.

Medium/heavy duty

IH was an early man­u­fac­turer of medium/heavy duty trucks. Al­though based upon truck chas­sis, IH also be­came the lead­ing man­u­fac­turer of the chas­sis por­tion of body-on-chas­sis con­ven­tional (type C) school buses. In 1962 IH of­fered the In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Load­star which be­came the pre­mier medium-duty truck. In 1978 IH of­fered the In­ter­na­tional Har­vester S-Se­ries, which re­placed the Load­star in 1979.

With the truck and en­gine di­vi­sions re­main­ing fol­low­ing the 1985 sale of the agri­cul­tural di­vi­sion, In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Com­pany changed their cor­po­rate name to Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional in 1986. Today Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional’s sub­sidiary, In­ter­na­tional Truck and En­gine Cor­po­ra­tion, man­u­fac­tures and mar­kets trucks and en­gines under the In­ter­na­tional brand name.

The Power Strokediesel en­gine, which is a trade name of Ford Motor Com­pany, was man­u­fac­tured by In­ter­na­tional Truck and En­gine Cor­po­ra­tion in In­di­anapo­lis, Ind., for use in Ford heavy-duty trucks, vans and SUVs.

Military

IH man­u­fac­tured light, medium, and heavy ve­hi­cles for mil­i­tary use. Ex­am­ples in­clude a Metro van sold to the Czecho­slo­va­kian Army in 1938, as M5 Trac­tors and 2.5-ton M-5H-6 trucks for the US Navy & Marines in 1942, and ap­prox­i­mately 3,500 2.5 ton M-5-6-318 cargo trucks pro­vided mostly to So­viet Union and China.

Motorhomes

In the 1970s, mo­torhomes were man­u­fac­tured using IHC en­gines and bare chas­sis. Most of the bod­ies were con­structed of fiber­glass.

Overseas subsidiaries

Australia

Utility

 1953 International Utility

Australian Army designs

In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Aus­tralia, a sub­sidiary of the US Man­u­fac­turer, had a long re­la­tion­ship with the Aus­tralian Army with the US de­signed AS se­ries trucks in the early 1950s. The AS164 2X4 used as a trac­tor unit and the 2X4 AS161 used as a tray­back troop transport

The as­so­ci­a­tion be­tween In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Aus­tralia and the Aus­tralian Army de­vel­oped and in con­junc­tion with the Army De­sign Es­tab­lish­ment of the Aus­tralian Com­mon­wealth De­part­ment of Sup­ply, de­signed and con­structed a range of trucks for the Aus­tralian Army. With body loosely based upon the de­sign of cab 13 of the Cana­dian Mil­i­tary Pat­tern truck the first pro­to­type built in 1959 was the In­ter­na­tional Truck Cargo 2½ Ton Gen­eral Ser­vice, Aus­tralian No.1 Mk1. which was fol­lowed by the Mk2 pro­to­type. A vari­ant with a mid mounted 20,000 pound winch, re­sulted in the first pro­duc­tion model, the Mk3 en­ter­ing ser­vice in 1963 – just in time for Aus­tralia’s entry into the Viet­nam War.

A 5 Ton 6X6 ver­sion was to fol­low with 3 major vari­ants the Truck Cargo 5 Ton with winch F1 which re­placed the Mk3 in Viet­nam service.

The F2 a tip­per version that re­placed the In­ter­na­tional Har­vester AB160 “tea­spoon Tipper” in both Viet­nam and Bor­neo the­atres of operations.

The F5 wrecker with a lack of 4X4 2 1/2 ton trucks avail­able be­cause of the Viet­nam War, the Mk3 was sup­ple­mented with fur­ther 4X4 pro­duc­tion with the up­dated Mk4 version which shared the cab with the 6X6 vari­ants Pro­duc­tion of The Aus­tralian No.1. range of trucks were pro­duced until 1973. The Mk3, Mk4, F1, F2 and F5 saw ser­vice until the late 1980s.

 NZFS 1969 C1800 Butterbox ACCO.

ACCO

 International ACCO

The Aus­tralian-de­signed and built In­ter­na­tional ACCO [Aus­tralian con­structed cab over] was first pro­duced in the late 1960s. The ACCO is a cab over en­gine type truck and has been of­fered in 4×2, 4×4, 6×2, 6×4, 8×4 and 10×4 con­fig­u­ra­tions. En­gines used have been Cum­mins, Cater­pil­lar, De­troit Diesel or GMC with Road-Ranger or Al­li­son trans­mis­sions and Rock­well dif­fer­en­tials. The ACCO range were built to order, serv­ing pri­vate op­er­a­tors, fire de­part­ments, mil­i­tary ser­vices and mu­nic­i­pal de­part­ments across Aus­tralia and New Zealand. The ACCO be­came the most pop­u­lar prod­uct of In­ter­na­tional Har­vester in Aus­tralia. The ACCO con­tin­ues to be man­u­fac­tured to date, under the own­er­ship of Iveco.

Brazilian subsidiary

“In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Máquinas S.A.” was es­tab­lished with Brazil­ian gov­ern­ment sup­port as part of a pro­ject to de­velop a ve­hi­cle in­dus­try there. Their first prod­uct was the In­ter­na­tional S-184 heavy truck. In 1966 Chrysler pur­chased In­ter­na­tional’s Brazil­ian plant.

U.S. Truck series since 1960

Loadstar (1962–1979)

 IHC Loadstar as an airport fire truck in Greece.

 1968 International Harvester Loadstar bus at the Egged Museum, of Holon, Israel.

The first gen­er­a­tion Load­star was pri­mar­ily used for local de­liv­ery, in­clud­ing school buses and fire en­gines. It was also used ex­ten­sively in the agri­cul­tural and con­struc­tion in­dus­tries. It was widely rec­og­niz­able by its grey grill and “but­ter­fly” hood, but some late mod­els had one piece tilt­ing hoods. Most had a medium-duty 4×2 chas­sis, but some 6×4 heavy-duty mod­els were built. This se­ries was re­placed by the S-Se­ries in the 1970s.

Mod­els 1600, 1650, 1700, 1750, 1800, 1850, 2050

Pow­er­train

Gasoline

IHC V-304 V8

• IHC V-345 V8
• IHC V-461 V8
• IHC V-549 V8

Diesel

• IHC DV-462 V8
• IHC DV-550 V8
• IHC DV-550B V8
  • IHC D-150/170/190 V8
  • IHC DT466 I6
• Caterpillar 1160 V8
• Caterpillar 3208 V8
• Detroit Diesel 6V53N V6

Navistar 7000 series (2005-)

The Nav­is­tar 7000 se­ries is a line of mil­i­tary heavy lift ve­hi­cles based on Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional‘s Work­Star truck chas­sis, and pro­duced by Nav­is­tar De­fense. The truck is avail­able in a va­ri­ety of wheel (4×2, 4×4, 6×4, and 6×6) and en­gine configurations.

In 2005, the US Army or­dered 2900 7,000-MV for the Afghan Na­tional Army and Iraqi Min­istry of De­fense and an ad­di­tional order of 7,000 was added in 2008.

The Cana­dian ForcesCana­dian Army had adopted the Nav­is­tar De­fence LLC Medium Lo­gis­tics truck. The ve­hi­cle ful­fills the MSVS Mil­COTS (Mil­i­ta­rized Com­mer­cial-Off-The-Shelf) re­quire­ment. As of mid-2011, the MSVS SMP (Stan­dard Mil­i­tary Pat­tern) ve­hi­cle has not been cho­sen. By June 2010, 1,300 Nav­is­tar units have re­placed part of the MLVW fleet. The civil­ian des­ig­na­tion of the 7000-MV is Nav­is­tar 7400 SFA 6×6.

In July 2012 the order for 1500 MSVS SMP trucks was can­celled and being re-evaluated.

Op­er­a­tors

•  Afghanistan
  • Afghan National Army
  • Afghan National Police
•  Bulgaria
  • Bulgarian Air Force (tanker at Graf Ignatievo Air Base) .
•  Canada
  • Canadian Forces (replaces the MLVW)
•  Colombia
  • Colombian Marine Corps – 24 7000MV
•  Iraq
  • Iraqi Armed Forces

S series (1977–2001)

The In­ter­na­tional Har­vester S-Series was a medium and heavy-duty truck line. In April 1977, at the New Or­leansSu­per­dome, the all-new S-se­ries medium-duty trucks were introduced. as a re­place­ment for the In­ter­na­tional Har­vester Fleet­star. In 1979, other ver­sions of the S-Se­ries were in­tro­duced to suc­ceed the Load­star-se­ries. Like the Load­star, the S-Se­ries were straight trucks com­monly used for local de­liv­ery; the ver­sions re­plac­ing the Fleet­star were semi-trac­tors or se­vere-ser­vice straight trucks. Ad­di­tion­ally, the S-Se­ries (and its re­place­ment, the 3800) proved pop­u­lar in the school bus in­dus­try. The S-Se­ries was the last prod­uct line de­signed from the ground up by In­ter­na­tional Har­vester them­selves; it was pro­duced in its orig­i­nal form until the end of the 1980s. Pro­duc­tion of the S-Se­ries ended in 2001.The six-wheeled ver­sions of the “S” were called F-se­ries.

In 1987, to re­flect the cor­po­rate change from In­ter­na­tional Har­vester to Nav­is­tar In­ter­na­tional, the S-Se­ries re­ceived new badg­ing. The IHC logo seen on the steer­ing wheel was re­placed by the Nav­is­tar di­a­mond logo. On the out­side, the In­ter­na­tional name was moved from the top to the bot­tom of the grille. In­stead of match­ing the grille color, all S-Se­ries trucks wore a red In­ter­na­tional badge.

 Navistar International 4900 dump truck

In a 1989 facelift most of the com­po­nents were car­ried over into an up­dated line of medium duty trucks (the straight trucks were re-branded In­ter­na­tional 4000 Se­ries, while the trac­tors be­came the In­ter­na­tional 8000 Se­ries) with a re­designed hood and in­te­rior in 1989. These prod­ucts un­der­went in­te­rior up­dates in 1992 and 1995, re­main­ing in pro­duc­tion until the end of the 2001 model year.

Mod­els

 Wayne Lifeguard school bus with International 3800 chassis (retired)

 Navistar International bus in Mexico.

Trucks (International Harvester)

• S-1600
• S-1700
• S-1800
• S-1900
• S-2000
• S-2200 (short hood, wide cab)
• S-2500 (long hood)
• S-2600 (long hood, set back front axle)

Trucks (Navistar International)

• 4600
• 4700
• 4900
• 8100
• 8200

Buses

Main article: International Harvester S-Series (bus chassis)

• 1853FC front-engine forward control
• S-Series ”Schoolmaster” conventional
• 3400 cutaway cab
• 3600 semi-forward control
• 3700 conventional
• 3800 conventional (replaced “Schoolmaster” with 3700)

Pow­er­train

Gasoline Engines

International Harvester

• • 345 cubic-inch V8 (1979–1986)
  • 392 cubic-inch V8 (1979–1986)
  • MV-404 6.6 liter V8 (1979–1981)
  • MV-446 7.3 liter V8 (1979–1981) (gasoline ancestor of the International Harvester IDI engine)

Diesel Engines

V8

• International Harvester 9.0 L (551 cu in) V8 (1979–1987)

• D-150/170/190 (September 1978 – December 1979)
• 9.0L (January 1980 – 1987)

• International Harvester IDI 6.9 L (420 cu in) (1983–1987)
• International Harvester IDI 7.3 L (444 cu in) (1986–1989)
• Caterpillar 3208 10.4 L (636 cu in) (1979–1981)

Inline-6

• International Harvester DT360 5.9 L (360 cu in) (1987–1989)
• International Harvester DT466 7.6 L (466 cu in) (1979–1989)
• Cummins M11

TranStar 8000 series (1989–)

 International TranStar 8600 with a special single-seat body for carrying long pipes

The In­ter­na­tional 8000 Series, also known as the In­ter­na­tional TranStar line, is a re­gional-haultrac­tor. It is avail­able in two variants. They dif­fer in en­gines, dri­ve­trains, and axle configurations.

The 8500 is pow­ered by an In­ter­na­tional HT 570 310 hp (230 kW), 1,050 lbf·ft (1,420 N·m) en­gine with ei­ther a Fuller 10-speed man­ual, Spicer 7-speed man­ual, or Al­li­son 5-speed/6-speed automatic. With a wheel­base from 128 to 201 in (3.3 to 5.1 m), its front axle ca­pac­ity is 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) or 12,000 lb (5,400 kg). Rear sin­gle axle has a ca­pac­ity of 23,000 pounds (10,000 kg). Rear tan­dem axle has a ca­pac­ity of 40,000 lb (18,000 kg). Both axles are ei­ther Mer­i­tor or Dana Spicer and are avail­able with a dri­ver-con­trolled lock­ing dif­fer­en­tial. Ap­pli­ca­tions in­clude bev­er­age, city trac­tor, and re­gional haul.

The heav­ier-duty 8600 model is pow­ered by ei­ther a Cater­pil­lar or Cum­mins diesel. With a wheel­base from 128 to 315 inches (3.25 to 8.00 m), its front axle is ei­ther a Mer­i­tor with a ca­pac­ity of 10,000 lb (4,500 kg), 12,000 lb (5,400 kg), or 13,200 lb (6,000 kg) or a Dana Spicer with a ca­pac­ity of 10,000 lb (4,500 kg), 12,000 lb (5,400 kg), 13,200 lb (6,000 kg), or 14,000 lb (6,400 kg). Rear sin­gle axle ca­pac­ity is 23,000 lb (10,000 kg). Rear tan­dem axle ca­pac­ity is 40,000 lb (18,000 kg). Both axles are ei­ther Mer­i­tor or Dana Spicer and are avail­able with a dri­ver-con­trolled lock­ing dif­fer­en­tial. Ap­pli­ca­tions in­clude bev­er­age, city trac­tor, liq­uid or dry bulk, and re­gional haul.

Home

 A 1979 Cub Cadet loader, made two years before the line was sold to Modern Tool and Die Company.

 IH dealer in Texas, showing trucks, tractors and refrigeration equipment

Lawn and garden

IH branched out into the home lawn and gar­den busi­ness in the 1960s with its line of Cub Cadet equip­ment, which in­cluded rid­ing and walk-be­hind lawn mow­ers and snow blow­ers. Also pro­duced were com­post shred­ders, ro­tary tillers, Cadet gar­den trac­tors, and power washers.

The Cub Cadet line was sold to MTD Prod­ucts in 1981.

Home appliances

Al­though best known for farm equip­ment, IH pro­duced home ap­pli­ances for farm­ers and non-farm­ers alike. This in­cluded re­frig­er­a­tion equip­ment such as re­frig­er­a­tors, air con­di­tion­ers andfreez­ers. IH had a re­frig­er­a­tion di­vi­sion of its own, as did other ve­hi­cle man­u­fac­tur­ers of the time: Ford had Philco, Chrysler had Airtemp, Gen­eral Mo­tors had Frigidaire, Nash-Kelv­ina­tor Cor­po­ra­tion (and then Amer­i­can Mo­tors) had Kelv­ina­tor, Stude­baker had the Franklin Ap­pli­ance Com­pany, Crosley had Crosley.

The IH ap­pli­ance di­vi­sion had orig­i­nally been de­vel­oped to man­u­fac­ture com­mer­cial-grade items to farm­ers, most of whom had just re­ceived elec­tric­ity by way of the many elec­tri­fi­ca­tion pro­jects in the U.S. be­fore and after World War II. Among the of­fer­ings were milk cool­ers and walk-in freez­ers for pro­duce and meat. Later on, IH courted the farmer’s wife with kitchenre­frig­er­a­tors avail­able in the lat­est de­signer styles. The IH spokes­woman for these prod­ucts was Irma Hard­ing, a fac­tory trade­mark. These prod­ucts were in­tro­duced in 1947 and sold for less than 10 years. The re­frig­er­a­tion di­vi­sion was sold to Whirlpool Cor­po­ra­tion in 1955. Since the time of pro­duc­tion was short, IH ap­pli­ances are rare today.

Other products

Weapons

In early 1951, the United States Army through the Spring­field Ar­mory con­tracted In­ter­na­tional Har­vester to pro­duce M1 Garand ri­fles, and from 1953 to 1956 pro­duced 337,623 ri­fles in total, ac­cord­ing to the Army Ord­nance Department.

HT-341

In 1959, In­ter­na­tional Har­vester cre­ated a Jet-Tur­bine pow­ered trac­tor called the In­ter­na­tional HT-341. It was do­nated to the Smith­son­ian In­sti­tu­tion in 1967.

See also

• Farmall tractor
• Farmall Cub
• International Harvester Scout
• International Harvester (song)
• List of International Harvester vehicles

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Coca Cola eStar electric truck at Washington D.C.

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Beaumont, TX, November 2, 2005- A contractor has the value of his load of brush and tree limbs estimated before he dumps it at an Army Corps of Engineers debris site. FEMA funds the Corps of Engineers debris disposal program. Photo by Ed Edahl/FEMA

Honourary Colonel’s Dinner at 438 ETAH

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References

• Crismon, Frederick W. (2002), International Trucks (2nd ed.), Minneapolis: Victory WW2 Publishing, ISBN 0-9700567-2-9

1. ^ Popular Mechanics. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
2. ^ Peck, Merton J. & Scherer, Frederic M. The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis (1962) Harvard Business School p.619
3. ^ “1948 International Harvester Annual Report”. 1949. Retrieved12 August 2012.
4. ^ “Navistar International: Information from”. Answers.com. Retrieved2012-09-29.
5. ^ Loomis, Carol J. “The Strike That Rained on Archie McCardell’s Parade.”Fortune. May 19, 1980; Friedman, Raymond A. “Interaction Norms as Carriers of Organizational Culture: A Study of Labor Negotiations at International Harvester”. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. 18:1 (April 1989); Zimmerman, Frederick M. The Turnaround Experience: Real-World Lessons in Revitalizing Corporations. New York: McGraw–Hill, 1991. ISBN 0-07-072899-2
6. ^ ^{a b} Leffingwell, Randy (2005). Farmall Eight Decades of Innovation. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing. ISBN 0-7603-2136-1.
7. ^ Williams, Winston. “Long Strike Is Called Key McCardell Error.” New York Times. May 4, 1982; “Workers End Six-Month Walkout.” Associated Press. April 21, 1980
8. ^ ^{a b} Placard at WDM.
9. ^ “A History of John Deere Model R Tractors”. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
10. ^ ^{a b c d} Updike, Kenneth (2000). International Harvester Tractors 1955–1985. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing. ISBN 0-7603-0682-6.
11. ^ Kennett, Pat (September 1982). “Intertruck: Spain”. TRUCK. London, UK: FF Publishing Ltd: 27.
12. ^ ^{a b c} Wendel, Charles (2004). 150 Years of International Harvester. Lola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87349-928-X.
13. ^ The mid-mount Electrall unit installs on the Super M-TA, Super W-6TA, 400, 450 and 560 tractors equipped with the I-PTO option.
14. ^ “Insect Electrocution”. Ag and Food Newsletter. 2 (14): 711. 1954-07-07. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
15. ^ ^{a b c d} “International Harvester History: Trucks”. International Harvester. 1961.
16. ^ Placard at the Saskatchewan Western Development Museum, where the car was on display.
17. ^ “Smithson International Truck Museum: Truck Collection”. Rimbey, Alberta, Canada: Pas-ka-poo Historical Park. Retrieved 2011-08-26.
18. ^ Carlsom, B Mitchell. “The Timeless Metro”. Red Power. Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec, Jan/Feb. 27 & 28: 34–36.
19. ^ “2 1/2-ton, 6×6 Trucks of WW II P2”. Olive-drab.com. Retrieved2016-03-09.
20. ^ “Engines of the Red Army in WW2 – International M-5-6×4-318 with BM-13-16 Katiusha rocket launcher”. O5m6.de. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
21. ^ “The Army Inter Chapter – AR164”. REMLR. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
22. ^ “The Army Inter Chapter – AS161”. REMLR. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
23. ^ “The Army Inter – No.1, Mk.1”. REMLR. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
24. ^ “The Army Inter – No.1, Mk.3”. REMLR. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
25. ^ “The Army Inter – No.1, Mk.5, F1”. REMLR. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
26. ^ “The Army Inter – No.1, Mk.5, F2”. REMLR. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
27. ^ “The Army InterChapter – AB160 Teaspoon Tipper”. REMLR. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
28. ^ “The Army Inter – No.1, Mk.5, F5”. REMLR. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
29. ^ “The Army Inter – No.1, Mk.4”. REMLR. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
30. ^ “Defence Materiel Organisation - On Target August 2006”. Defence.gov.au. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
31. ^ “Australian Government, Department of Defence”. Defence.gov.au. 2012-01-20. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
32. ^ “ACCO turns 40”. Iveco Australia.
33. ^ Shapiro, Helen (Winter 1991). “Determinants of Firm Entry into the Brazilian Automobile Manufacturing Industry, 1956–1968”. The Business History Review. 65 (4, The Automobile Industry): 879.doi:10.2307/3117267.
34. ^ Shapiro, p. 935
35. ^ ^{a b} “Navistar International 7000 series”. Military-Today.com.
36. ^ “MacKay announces 1,300 new military trucks”. Winnipeg Sun. 2009-01-09.
37. ^ “Military truck purchase cancelled due to cost concerns”. Cbc.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
38. ^http://web.archive.org/web/20120309185436/http://www.foto.bg/data/7345/medium/P3171151.JPG. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2013.Missing or empty |title= (help)
39. ^http://web.archive.org/web/20141020074414/http://dmilt.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6487:colombia-marines-receive-navistar-7000mv-trucks&catid=35:latin-america&Itemid=58. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved May 3, 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
40. ^ Crismon, p. 485
41. ^ Crismon, p. 492
42. ^ Crismon, p. 495
43. ^http://web.archive.org/web/20081007154115/http://69.20.127.42:80/portal/site/ITrucks/menuitem.2fea1fe726559abc31f8e968121010a0/?vgnextoid=f82b3378c8d9e010VgnVCM10000085d0eb0aRCRD. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
44. ^http://web.archive.org/web/20081007154109/http://69.20.127.42:80/portal/site/ITrucks/menuitem.2fea1fe726559abc31f8e968121010a0/?vgnextoid=b63b3378c8d9e010VgnVCM10000085d0eb0aRCRD. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
45. ^ “Farmall Cub • View topic – Bought a 182 Cub Cadet”. Farmallcub.com. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
46. ^ “Wisconsin Historical Society Frequently Asked Questions”. Wisconsinhistory.org. Retrieved 2012-09-29.

External links

• International Harvester History
• Antique Farmall Tractor Forums
• International Harvester Forum
• International Harvester Digest
• The Binder Planet: all IH light trucks technical resource website
• McCormick – International Harvester Collection
• International Harvester tractors
• International Harvester Scout Parts
• International Harvester Travelall parts
• Old International Harvester Truck Special Interest Group
• Trucks

Navistar International
Subsidiaries	IC Bus AmTran Ward Body Works[defunct] MWM International Motores
Joint ventures	Blue Diamond Truck (defunct) Mahindra Navistar (sold) NC2 Global
Products	List of International Harvester/Navistar engines List of International Harvester vehicles
Related articles	International Harvester International Harvester Company Warehouse International Harvester strike of 1979–80 McCormick-International Harvester Company Branch House Modec

FORD Motor Company Dearborn Michigan USA 1903 – still going strong Part II

FORD Motor Company

Dearborn Michigan USA 1903 – still going strong Part II

1896 Quadricycle at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI

1899 Ford Model T

1903

1903 Ford Model A – original sales leaflet

Ford Model A (1903–04)

See also: Ford Model A (1927–1931)

Ford Model A
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Also called	Fordmobile Ford Model AC
Production	1903–1904 1700 produced
Designer	Henry Ford
Body and chassis
Body style	2-seat runabout rear-entry 4-seat tonneau
Powertrain
Engine	Flat-2 1668 cc (101.788 cu in) 8hp.
Transmission	2-speed planetary
Dimensions
Wheelbase	72 in (1.8 m)
Curb weight	1,240 lb (562 kg)
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Quadricycle
Successor	Ford Model B Ford Model C

The original Ford Model A is the first car produced by Ford Motor Company, beginning production in 1903. Ernst Pfennig, a Chicago dentist, became the first owner of a Model A on July 23, 1903. 1,750 cars were made from 1903 through 1904. The Model A was replaced by the Ford Model C during 1904 with some sales overlap.

1903 ford model A a

The car came as a two-seater runabout or four-seater tonneau model with an option to add a top. The horizontal-mounted flat-2, situated amidships of the car, produced 8 hp (6 kW). A planetary transmission was fitted with two forward speeds and reverse, a Ford signature later seen on the Ford Model T. The car weighed 1,240 lb (562 kg) and could reach a top speed of 28 mph (45 km/h). It had a 72 inch (1.8 m) wheelbase and sold for a base price of US$750. Options included a rear tonneau with two seats and a rear door for $100, a rubber roof for $30 or a leather roof for $50. Band brakes were used on the rear wheels. However, it was $150 more than its most direct competitor, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, and so did not sell as well.

1904 Ford Model A

The company had spent almost its entire $28,000 initial investment funds with only $223.65 left in its bank account when the first Model A was sold. The success of this car model generated a profit for the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford‘s first successful business.

1904 Ford Model A-C

Although Ford advertised the Model A as the “most reliable machine in the world”, it suffered from many problems common to vehicles of the era, including overheating and slipping transmission bands. The Model A was sold only in red by the factory, though some were later repainted in other colors.

Model AC

Some 1904 Model A cars were equipped with the larger, more powerful engine of the Model C and were sold as the Model AC.

Ford Model B (1904)

See also Ford Model B (1932)

Ford Model B
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Production	1904–1906 500 produced
Designer	Henry Ford
Body and chassis
Body style	2-row 4-passenger touring car
Related	Cadillac 8 1/2
Powertrain
Engine	283.5CID 24hp Straight-4
Transmission	2-speed planetary
Dimensions
Wheelbase	92 in (2337 mm)
Curb weight	1700lbs.
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Model A
Successor	Ford Model K

Ford Model B was an upscale touring car (with polished wood and brass trim) introduced in 1904. It was Ford’s first car to use the front-engine layout, with a large 24 hp 4-cylinder engine positioned at the front behind a conventional radiator. The smaller Model A-derived Model C positioned its flat 2-cylinder motor under the seat.

1904 Ford Model B Touring

Priced at $2000 (equivalent to $52000 today), the Model B was a high end car. Produced for three years, sales were predictably slower than the Model C which was priced at 1/3 the cost. The Model B was replaced by the derivative Model K in 1906.

Ford Model C

See also Ford Model C (1933-1934)

Ford Model C
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Production	1904–1905 800 produced
Designer	Henry Ford
Body and chassis
Body style	2-seat runabout rear-entry 4-seat tonneau
Powertrain
Engine	120.5CID 10hp Flat-2
Transmission	2-speed planetary
Dimensions
Wheelbase	78 in (198 cm)
Curb weight	1,250 lb (567 kg)
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Model A
Successor	Ford Model F

The Ford Model C was a version of the first Ford Model A with more modern look. It had a slightly more powerful engine and 15 cm (6 inches) longer wheelbase. It was the entry-level car in the Ford model lineup, slotting below the upscale Model B. Production ended in 1905 with 800 cars made. The Model C was replaced by the derivative Model F in 1905.

1904 Ford Model C

Both Models A and C were produced at the same time, but the Model A could also be bought with a Model C engine, an option called Ford Model AC. The Model C engine was a flat-2 giving 8 hp (6 kW) at first and 10 hp (7 kW) by 1905 with a claimed top speed of 38 mph.^[1] The Model C was sold for $850 (equivalent to $22000 today), with the option of making it a four-seater for an extra $100. The top cost extra, rubber for $30 and leather for $50.

1904 Ford Model C

Although the Model C had a protruding front “box” like a modern car, unlike the flat-front Model A, this was purely ornamental — the engine remained under the seat (the gas tank was what was under the hood).

1904 Ford Model C runabout

1904 Ford Model C Runabout

1904 Ford Model C

1904 Ford  Model C

The Model C was the first vehicle to be built at Ford Motor Company of Canada.

Ford Model F

For the tractor, see Fordson tractor#F Series.

Ford Model F
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Production	1905–1906 1000 produced
Designer	Henry Ford
Body and chassis
Class	Entry-level car
Body style	2-row phaeton
Powertrain
Engine	127CID 12hp Flat-2
Transmission	2-speed planetary
Dimensions
Wheelbase	84 in (2134 mm)
Curb weight	1400 lb (635 kg)
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Model C
Successor	Ford Model N

The Ford Model F is an automobile produced by the Ford Motor Company. It was a development of the Model A and Model C, but was larger, more modern, and more luxurious. It was a four-seater phaeton withrunning boards and a side-entrance tonneau standard. Production started in 1905 and ended in 1906 after about 1000 were made. In 1905, it was priced at US$2,000 ($52,496 in 2015); by contrast, the Colt Runabout was $1,500, the FAL was $1,750, the Cole 30 $1,500, the Enger 40 $2,000, and the Lozier Light Six Metropolitan $3,250. All had green bodies.

Ford Model K

Ford Model K
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Production	1906–1908
Designer	Henry Ford
Body and chassis
Class	Upscale
Body style	2-row touring car
Powertrain
Engine	405CID cast iron block 40hp Straight-6
Transmission	planetary 2-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	114 in (290 cm)
Curb weight	2,400 lb (1,089 kg)
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Model B

Ford Model K was an upscale automobile produced by the Ford Motor Company. It was introduced in 1906 and replaced the earlier Model B. The model K was aimed at the top end of the market and featured an inline-6 (the only Ford six until 1941) giving 40 hp (30 kW). The wheelbase was 120 in (2896 mm) and could be ordered either as touring or roadster. Contrary to popular folklore, the Model K was a good seller for Ford Motor Company. In 1906, the first year it was offered, the Model K produced over eighty five percent of Ford Motor Company’s new car profit (1906 Ford Motor Company internal audit records). In 1907, the second, and primary sales year of the Model K, almost five hundred Model K were sold, the best selling six cylinder model in the world. As period journals reported, Ford Motor Company went in another direction, moving to one chassis, a mid priced car, the Model T, leaving the multi-line business model used by most auto makers of the period. However, sales and profits from the Model K helped Ford Motor Company become the largest automaker in number of sales in 1907, and along with the Model N, was the only Ford model sold through three model years (1906-1908) prior to the advent of the Model T.

Ford Model N

This article is about the automobile. For the tractor, see Ford N-Series tractor.

Ford Model N
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Also called	Ford Model R Ford Model S
Production	1906–1908 13,250 produced
Designer	Henry Ford
Body and chassis
Class	Entry-level car
Body style	2-row phaeton
Powertrain
Engine	149CID 15hp Model N EngineStraight-4
Transmission	2-speed planetary
Dimensions
Wheelbase	84 in (213 cm)
Curb weight	800 lb (363 kg) (1906); 1,050 lb (476 kg) (1907 Model N); 1,400 lb (635 kg) (1907 Models R and S)
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Model F
Successor	Ford Model T

The Ford Model N is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company. It was introduced in 1906 as a successor to the Models A and C as the company’s inexpensive entry-level line.

The Model N diverged from its predecessors in that it was a front-engine car with a 4-cylinder engine. The 15 hp straight-4 drove the rear wheels via a long shaft. This was also the first American car to use vanadium steel. The car had a wheelbase size of 84 in (2.1 m).

A successful model, 7000 cars were made until production ended in 1908. At US$500 the car was viewed as highly affordable at the time; by contrast, the high-volume OldsmobileRunabout went for $650, Western‘s Gale Model A was $500, the Brush Runabout $485, the Black went for as low as $375, and the Success hit the amazingly low $250. Maroon was the only factory color for the Model N.

Ford Model R

1907 Ford Model R

The Model R was a higher trim level of the Model N with a larger body, wheels covered by full cycle fenders, running boards, and an oil lamp. Model R was $750, $150 above the $600 base Model N. The Model R was only produced in 1907, from April through October, and 2500 were sold. Its color was red.

Model S

1907-ford-model-s-drivers-side-front-view

The Model S was another adaptation of the Model N. Ford’s last US market right-hand-drive model, it featured a more modern cowl, with hood and fenders that flowed into full running boards. Another notable difference was the optional extra third mother-in-law seat behind the front bench. The basic model sold for $700. Extras such as a convertible top, gas lamps, as well as umbrella holders were available. 3750 cars were sold between 1907 and 1909.

1907 Ford Model S Runabout

1907 Ford S side

1908 Ford Model S Image

1908 Ford Model S Runabout

1909 logo

Ford Model T

  (Redirected from Model T)

Ford Model T
1919 Ford Model T Coupe
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Production	1908–1927
Assembly	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.; Highland Park, Michigan, U.S.; Buffalo, New York, U.S.; Los Angeles, California, U.S.; Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.; St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.; St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.; Dothan, Alabama, U.S.; Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.; San Francisco, California, U.S.; Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.; Columbus, Ohio, U.S.; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Geelong, Australia; São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil; Toronto, Canada; Walkerville, Canada; Copenhagen, Denmark; Manchester, United Kingdom; Berlin, Germany; Cork, Ireland; Cádiz, Spain
Designer	Henry Ford, Childe Harold Wills, Joseph A. Galamb andEugene Farkas
Body and chassis
Class	Full-size Ford, economy car
Body style	2-door touring (1909–11) 3-door touring (1912–1925) 4-door touring (1926–1927) no door roadster (1909–11) 1-door roadster(1912–1925) 2-door roadster (1926–1927) roadster pickup (1925–1927) 2-door coupé (1909–1912, 1917–1927) 2-door Coupelet (1915–17) Town car (1909–1918) C-cab wagon (1912) 2-(Center) door sedan (1915–1923) 2-door sedan (1924–1927) 4-door sedan (1923–1927) Separate chassis were available all years from independent coachbuilders
Layout	FR layout
Powertrain
Engine	177 C.I.D. (2.9 L) 20 hp I4
Transmission	2-speed planetary gear
Dimensions
Wheelbase	100.0 in (2,540 mm)
Length	134 in (3,404 mm)
Curb weight	1,200 pounds (540 kg)
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Model S
Successor	Ford Model A

The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie, Tin Lizzy, T‑Model Ford,Model T, or T) is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford‘s Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that opened travel to the common middle-classAmerican; some of this was because of Ford’s efficient fabrication, including assembly lineproduction instead of individual hand crafting.

The Ford Model T was named the most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, ahead of the BMC Mini, Citroën DS, and Volkswagen Type 1, and still makes top ten list of most sold cars (ranked nr. 8) as of 2012.

Although automobiles had already existed for decades, their adoption had been limited, and they were still mostly scarce and expensive. Automobiles were considered extreme luxury for the common man until the Model T. The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile became popular for the mass market. The first production Model T was produced on August 12, 1908 and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan. On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford watched the 15 millionth Model T Ford roll off the assembly line at hisfactory in Highland Park, Michigan.

There were several cars produced or prototyped by Henry Ford from the founding of the company in 1903 until the Model T was introduced. Although he started with theModel A, there were not 19 production models (A through T); some were only prototypes. The production model immediately before the Model T was the Model S, an upgraded version of the company’s largest success to that point, the Model N. The follow-up was the Ford Model A (rather than any Model U). The company publicity said this was because the new car was such a departure from the old that Henry wanted to start all over again with the letter A.

The Model T was Ford’s first automobile mass-produced on moving assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts, marketed to the middle class. Henry Ford said of the vehicle:

I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.

Although credit for the development of the assembly line belongs to Ransom E. Oldswith the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, beginning in 1901, the tremendous advancements in the efficiency of the system over the life of the Model T can be credited almost entirely to the vision of Ford and his engineers.

Characteristics

 1908 Ford Model T advertisement

The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills, and Hungarian immigrants Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas. Henry Love, C. J. Smith, Gus Degner and Peter E. Martin were also part of the team. Production of the Model T began in the third quarter of 1908. Collectors today sometimes classify Model Ts by build years and refer to these as “model years“, thus labeling the first Model Ts as 1909 models. This is a retroactive classification scheme; the concept of model years as we conceive it today did not exist at the time. The nominal model designation was “Model T”, although design revisions did occur during the car’s two decades of production.

Engine

Main article: Ford Model T engine

 1926 Model T engine

The Model T had a front-mounted 177-cubic-inch (2.9 L) inline four-cylinder engine, producing 20 hp (15 kW), for a top speed of 40–45 mph (64–72 km/h). According to Ford Motor Company, the Model T had fuel economy on the order of 13–21 mpg_-US(16–25 mpg_-imp; 18–11 L/100 km). The engine was capable of running on gasoline,kerosene, or ethanol, although the decreasing cost of gasoline and the later introduction of Prohibition made ethanol an impractical fuel for most users.

The ignition system used an unusual trembler coil system to drive the spark plugs, as used for stationary gas engines, rather than the expensive magnetos that were used on other cars. This ignition also made the Model T more flexible as to the quality or type of fuel it used. The need for a starting battery and also Ford’s use of an unusual AC alternator located inside the flywheel housing encouraged the adoption of electric lighting, rather than oil or acetylene lamps, but it also delayed the adoption of electric starting.

Transmission and drive train

 The three pedal controls of the Model T

 A driver’s controls in 1920

The Model T was a rear-wheel drive vehicle. Its transmission was a planetary geartype billed as “three speed”. In today’s terms it would be considered a two-speed, because one of the three speeds was reverse.

The Model T’s transmission was controlled with three foot pedals and a lever that was mounted to the road side of the driver’s seat. The throttle was controlled with a lever on the steering wheel. The left pedal was used to engage the gear. With the floor lever in either the mid position or fully forward and the pedal pressed and held forward the car entered low gear. When held in an intermediate position the car was in neutral. If the driver took his foot off the left pedal, the Model T entered high gear, but only when the lever was fully forward – in any other position the pedal would only move up as far as the central neutral position. This allowed the car to be held in neutral while the driver cranked the engine by hand. The car could thus cruise without the driver having to press any of the pedals. There was no separateclutch pedal.

When the car was in neutral, the middle pedal was used to engage reverse gear, and the right pedal operated the transmission brake – there were no separate brakes on the wheels. The floor lever also controlled the parking brake, which was activated by pulling the lever all the way back. This doubled as an emergency brake.

Although it was uncommon, the drive bands could fall out of adjustment, allowing the car to creep, particularly when cold, adding another hazard to attempting to start the car: a person cranking the engine could be forced backward while still holding the crank as the car crept forward, although it was nominally in neutral. As the car utilized a wet clutch, this condition could also occur in cold weather, where the thickened oil prevents the clutch discs from slipping freely. Power reached the differential through a single universal joint attached to a torque tube which drove the rear axle; some models (typically trucks, but available for cars as well) could be equipped with an optional two-speed Ruckstell rear axle shifted by a floor-mounted lever which provided an underdrive gear for easier hill climbing. All gears werevanadium steel running in an oil bath.

Transmission bands and linings

There were two main types of band lining material used:

• Cotton – Cotton woven linings were the original type fitted and specified by Ford. Generally, the cotton lining is “kinder” to the drum surface, with damage to the drum caused only by the retaining rivets scoring the drum surface. Although this in itself did not pose a problem, a dragging band resulting from improper adjustment caused overheating transmission and engine, diminished power, and—in the case of cotton linings—rapid destruction of the band lining.
• Wood – Wooden linings were originally offered as a “longer life” accessory part during the life of the Model T. They were a single piece of steam bent cottonwood fitted to the normal Model T Transmission band. These bands give a very different feel to the pedals, with much more of a “bite” feel. The sensation is of a definite “grip” of the drum and seemed to noticeably increase the feel, in particular of the brake drum.

Suspension and wheels

 The suspension components of a Ford Model T. The coil-spring device is an aftermarket accessory, the “Hassler shock absorber”.

Model T suspension employed a transversely mounted semi-elliptical spring for each of the front and rear beam axles which allowed a great deal of wheel movement to cope with the dirt roads of the time.

The front axle was drop forged as a single piece of vanadium steel. Ford twisted many axles eight times and sent them to dealers to be put on display to demonstrate its superiority. The Model T did not have a modern service brake. The right foot pedal applied a band around a drum in the transmission, thus stopping the rear wheels from turning. The previously mentioned parking brake lever operated band brakes acting on the inside of the rear brake drums, which were an integral part of the rear wheel hubs. Optional brakes that acted on the outside of the brake drums were available from aftermarket suppliers.

Wheels were wooden artillery wheels, with steel welded-spoke wheels available in 1926 and 1927.

Tires were pneumatic clincher type, 30 in (76 cm) in diameter, 3.5 in (8.9 cm) wide in the rear, 3 in (7.5 cm) wide in the front. Clinchers needed much higher pressure than today’s tires, typically 60 psi (410 kPa), to prevent them from leaving the rim at speed. Horseshoe nails on the roads, together with the high pressure, made flat tires a common problem.

Balloon tires became available in 1925. They were 21 in × 4.5 in (53 cm × 11 cm) all around. Balloon tires were closer in design to today’s tires, with steel wires reinforcing the tire bead, making lower pressure possible – typically 35 psi (240 kPa) – giving a softer ride. The old nomenclature for tire size changed from measuring the outer diameter to measuring the rim diameter so 21 in (530 mm) (rim diameter) × 4.5 in (110 mm) (tire width) wheels has about the same outer diameter as 30 in (76 cm) clincher tires. All tires in this time period used an inner tube to hold the pressurized air; “tubeless” tires were not generally in use until much later.

Wheelbase was 100 inches (254 cm); while standard tread width was 56 in (142 cm), 60 in (152 cm) tread could be obtained on special order, “for Southern roads”, identical to the pre-Civil War track gauge for many railroads in the former Confederacy.

Colors

By 1918, half of all the cars in the US were Model Ts. However, it was a monolithic bloc; Ford wrote in his autobiography that in 1909 he told his management team that in the future “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”.

However, in the first years of production from 1908 to 1913, the Model T was not available in black but rather only grey, green, blue, and red. Green was available for the touring cars, town cars, coupes, and Landaulets. Grey was only available for the town cars, and red only for the touring cars. By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. It was only in 1914 that the “any color so long as it is black” policy was finally implemented. It is often stated that Ford suggested the use of black from 1914 to 1926 due to the cheap cost and durability of black paint. During the lifetime production of the Model T, over 30 different types of black paint were used on various parts of the car. These were formulated to satisfy the different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and had distinct drying times, depending on the part, paint, and method of drying.

Body

 1910 Model T, photographed in Salt Lake City

 Ford Speedster T

 1925 Ford “New Model” T Tudor Sedan

Although Ford classified the Model T with a single letter designation throughout its entire life and made no distinction by model years, there were enough significant changes to the body over the production life that the car can be classified into five distinct generations. One of the most immediately visible and identifiable areas of change were in the hood and cowl areas although there were also many other changes made to the vehicle.

• 1909–1914 – T1 – Characterized by a nearly straight, five sided hood, with a flat top containing a center hinge and two side sloping sections containing the folding hinges. The firewall was flat from the windshield down with no distinct cowl.
• 1915–1916 – T2 – The hood design was nearly the same five sided design with the only obvious change being the addition of louvers to the vertical sides. There was a significant change to the cowl area with the windshield relocated significantly behind the firewall and joined with a compound contoured cowl panel.
• 1917–1923 – T3 – The hood design was changed to a tapered design with a curved top. the folding hinges were now located at the joint between the flat sides and the curved top. This is sometime referred to as the low hood to distinguish if from the later hoods. The back edge of the hood now met the front edge of the cowl panel so that no part of the flat firewall was visible outside of the hood. This design was used the longest and during the highest production years accounting for about half of the total number of Model T’s built.
• 1923–1925 – T4 – This change was made during the 1923 calendar year so models built earlier in the year have the older design while later vehicles have the newer design. The taper of the hood was increased and the rear section at the firewall is about an inch taller and several inches wider than the previous design. While this is a relatively minor change, the parts between the third and fourth generation are not interchangeable.
• 1926–1927 – T5 – This design change made the greatest difference in the appearance of the car. The hood was again enlarged with the cowl panel no longer a compound curve and blended much more with the line of the hood. The distance between the firewall and the windshield was also increased significantly. This style is sometimes referred to as the high hood.

The styling on the fifth generation was a preview for the following Model A but the two models are visually quite different as the body on the ‘A was much wider and had curved doors as opposed to the flat doors on the T.

Diverse applications

 A Model T homemade tractor pulling a plow

 Pullford auto-to-tractor conversion advertisement, 1918

When the Model T was designed and introduced, the infrastructure of the world was quite different from today’s. Pavement was a rarity except for sidewalks and a few big-city streets. (The sense of the term “pavement” as equivalent with “sidewalk” comes from that era, when streets and roads were generally dirt and sidewalks were a paved way to walk along them.) Agriculture was the occupation of many people. Power tools were scarce outside factories, as were power sources for them;electrification, like pavement, was found usually only in larger towns. Rural electrification and motorized mechanization were embryonic in North America and Europe, and nonexistent elsewhere.

Henry Ford oversaw the requirements and design of the Model T based on the realities of that world. Consequently, the Model T was (intentionally) almost as much a tractor and portable engine as it was an automobile. It has always been well regarded for its all-terrain abilities and ruggedness. It could travel a rocky, muddy farm lane, ford a shallow stream, climb a steep hill, and be parked on the other side to have one of its wheels removed and a pulley fastened to the hub for a flat belt to drive a bucksaw, thresher, silo blower, conveyor for filling corn cribs or haylofts,baler, water pump (for wells, mines, or swampy farm fields), electrical generator, and countless other applications. One unique application of the Model T was shown in the October 1922 issue of Fordson Farmer magazine. It showed a minister who had transformed his Model T into a mobile church, complete with small organ.

During this era, entire automobiles (including thousands of Model Ts) were even hacked apart by their industrious owners and reconfigured into custom machinery permanently dedicated to a purpose, such as homemade tractors, ice saws, or many others. Dozens of aftermarket companies sold prefab kits to facilitate the T’s conversion from car to tractor. The Model T had been around for a decade before the Fordson tractor became available (1917–1918), and many Ts had been converted for field use. (For example, Harry Ferguson, later famous for his hitches and tractors, worked on Eros Model T tractor conversions before he worked with Fordsons and others.) During the next decade, Model T tractor conversion kits were harder to sell, as the Fordson and then the Farmall (1924), as well as other light and affordable tractors, served the farm market. But during the Depression(1930s), Model T tractor conversion kits had a resurgence, because by then used Model Ts and junkyard parts for them were plentiful and cheap.

Like many popular car engines of the era, the Model T engine was also used on home-built aircraft (such as the Pietenpol Sky Scout) and motorboats.

Many Model Ts were converted into vehicles which could travel across heavy snows with kits on the rear wheels (sometimes with an extra pair of rear-mounted wheels and two sets of continuous track to mount on the now-tandemed rear wheels, essentially making it a half-track) and skis replacing the front wheels. They were popular for rural mail delivery for a time. The common name for these conversions of cars and small trucks wassnowflyers. These vehicles were extremely popular in the northern reaches of Canada where factories were set up to produce them.

A number of companies built Model T–based railcars. In The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux mentions a rail journey in India on such a railcar. The New Zealand Railways Department‘s RM class included a few.

Production

Mass production

 Ford assembly line, 1913

The knowledge and skills needed by a factory worker were reduced to 84 areas. When introduced, the T used the building methods typical at the time, assembly by hand, and production was small. Ford’s Piquette plant could not keep up with demand for the Model T, and only 11 cars were built there during the first full month of production. More and more machines were used to reduce the complexity within the 84 defined areas. In 1910, after assembling nearly 12,000 Model Ts, Henry Ford moved the company to the new Highland Park complex.

As a result, Ford’s cars came off the line in three-minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, reducing production time by a factor of eight (requiring 12.5 hours before, 93 minutes afterwards), while using less manpower. By 1914, the assembly process for the Model T had been so streamlined it took only 93 minutes to assemble a car. That year Ford produced more cars than all other automakers combined. The Model T was a great commercial success, and by the time Henry made his 10 millionth car, 50 percent of all cars in the world were Fords. It was so successful that Ford did not purchase any advertising between 1917 and 1923, instead it became so famous that people now considered it a norm; more than 15 million Model Ts were manufactured, reaching a rate of 9,000 to 10,000 cars a day in 1925, or 2 million annually, more than any other model of its day, at a price of just $260 (or about $3,230 in 2015 dollars). Model T production was finally surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle on February 17, 1972.

Henry Ford’s ideological approach to Model T design was one of getting it right and then keeping it the same; he believed the Model T was all the car a person would, or could, ever need. As other companies offered comfort and styling advantages, at competitive prices, the Model T lost market share. Design changes were not as few as the public perceived, but the idea of an unchanging model was kept intact. Eventually, on May 26, 1927, Ford Motor Company ceased US production and began the changeovers required to produce the Model A. Some of the other Model T factories in the world continued a short while.

Model T engines continued to be produced until August 4, 1941. Almost 170,000 were built after car production stopped, as replacement engines were required to service already produced vehicles. Racers and enthusiasts, forerunners of modern hot rodders, used the Model T’s block to build popular and cheap racing engines, including Cragar, Navarro, and famously the Frontenacs (“Fronty Fords”) of the Chevrolet brothers, among many others.

The Model T employed some advanced technology, for example, its use of vanadium steel alloy. Its durability was phenomenal, and many Model Ts and their parts remain in running order nearly a century later. Although Henry Ford resisted some kinds of change, he always championed the advancement of materials engineering, and often mechanical engineering and industrial engineering.

In 2002, Ford built a final batch of six Model Ts as part of their 2003 centenary celebrations. These cars were assembled from remaining new components and other parts produced from the original drawings. The last of the six was used for publicity purposes in the UK.

Although Ford no longer manufactures parts for the Model T, many parts are still manufactured through private companies as replicas to service the thousands of Model Ts still in operation today. On May 26, 1927 Henry Ford and his son Edsel, drove the 15 millionth Model T out of the factory. This marked the famous automobile’s official last day of production at the main factory.

Price and Production

The assembly line system allowed Ford to sell his cars at a price lower than his competitors due to the efficiency of the system. As he continued to fine tune the system, he was able to keep reducing his costs. As his volume increased, he was able to also lower the prices due to fixed costs being spread over a larger number of vehicles. Other factors affected the price such a material costs and design changes.

The figures below are US production numbers compiled by R.E. Houston, Ford Production Department, August 3, 1927. The figures between 1909 and 1920 are for Ford’s fiscal year. From 1909 to 1913, the fiscal year was from October 1 to September 30 the following calendar year with the year number being the year it ended in. For the 1914 fiscal year, the year was October 1, 1913 through July 31, 1914. Starting in August 1914, and through the end of the Model T era, the fiscal year was August 1 through July 31. Beginning with January 1920 the figures are for the calendar year.

Year	Production	Price for Runabout	Notes
1909	10,666	$825	($21,650 in 2015) Touring car was $850
1910	19,050	$900
1911	34,858	$680
1912	68,773	$590
1913	170,211	$525
1914	202,667	$440	Fiscal year was only 10 months long due to change in end date from Sep 30 to July 31
1915	308,162	$390
1916	501,462	$345
1917	735,020	$500
1918	664,076	$500
1919	498,342	$500
1920	941,042	$395	Production for fiscal year 1920, (August 1, 1919 through July 31, 1920) Price was $550 in March but dropped by Sept
1920	463,451	$395	Production for balance of calendar year, August 1 though Dec 31 Total ‘1920’ production (17 months) = 1,404,493
1921	971,610	$325	Price was $370 in June but dropped by Sept.
1922	1,301,067	$319
1923	2,011,125	$364
1924	1,922,048	$265
1925	1,911,705	$260	($3,500 in 2015) Touring car was $290
1926	1,554,465	$360
1927	399,725	$360	Production ended before mid-year to allow retooling for the Model A

Recycling

Henry Ford used wood scraps from the production of Model Ts to make charcoal. Originally named Ford Charcoal, the name was changed to Kingsford Charcoal after Ford’s brother-in-law E. G. Kingsford brokered the selection of the new charcoal plant site.

First global car

 The first Ford assembly plant in La Boca, Buenos Aires, c. 1921

 A 1923 Ford T in Canada

The Ford Model T was the first automobile built by various countries simultaneously since they were being produced in Walkerville, Canada and in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester, England starting in 1911 and were later assembled in Germany,Argentina, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan, as well as several locations throughout the US. Ford made use of the knock-down kitconcept almost from the beginning of the company as freight cost had Ford assembling on the west coast of the US.

The Aeroford was an English automobile manufactured in Bayswater, London, from 1920 to 1925. It was a Model T with distinct hood and grille to make it appear to be a totally different design, what later would have been called badge engineering. The Aeroford sold from £288 in 1920, dropping to £168-214 by 1925. It was available as a two-seater, four-seater, or coupé.

Advertising and marketing

Ford created a massive publicity machine in Detroit to ensure every newspaper carried stories and advertisements about the new product. Ford’s network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in virtually every city in North America. As independent dealers, the franchises grew rich and publicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling; local motor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to explore the countryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked on the vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Sales skyrocketed – several years posted 100% gains on the previous year.

Car clubs

 1919 Ford Model T stakebed

Cars built before 1919 are classed as veteran cars and later models as vintage cars. Today, four main clubs exist to support the preservation and restoration of these cars: the Model T Ford Club International, the Model T Ford Club of America and the combined clubs of Australia. With many chapters of clubs around the world, the Model T Ford Club of Victoria has a membership with a considerable number of uniquely Australian cars. (Australia produced its own car bodies, and therefore many differences occurred between the Australian bodied tourers and the US/Canadian cars.) In the UK, the Model T Ford Register of Great Britain celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. Many steel Model T parts are still manufactured today, and even fiberglass replicas of their distinctive bodies are produced, which are popular for T-bucket style hot rods (as immortalized in the Jan and Dean surf music song “Bucket T”, which was later recorded by The Who). In 1949, more than twenty years after the end of production, 200,000 Model Ts were registered in the United States. In 2008, it was estimated that about 50,000 to 60,000 Ford Model T remain roadworthy.

In popular media

• John Steinbeck‘s Cannery Row contains a passage about the Model T:

Someone should write an erudite essay on the moral, physical, and aesthetic effect of the Model T Ford on the American nation. Two generations of Americans knew more about the Ford coil than about the clitoris, about the planetary system of gears than the solar system of stars. With the Model T, part of the concept of private property disappeared. Pliers ceased to be privately owned and a tire iron belonged to the last man who had picked it up. Most of the babies of the period were conceived in Model T Fords and not a few were born in them. The theory of the Anglo Saxon home became so warped that it never quite recovered.

• In Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World, where Henry Ford is regarded as a messianic figure, graveyard crosses have been truncated to T’s. Additionally, the calendar is converted to an “A.F.” system, wherein the first calendar year leads from the introduction of the Model T.
• The phrase to “go the way of the Tin Lizzie” is a colloquialism referring to the decline and elimination of a popular product, habit, belief or behavior as a now outdated historical relic which has been replaced by something new.
• The Tin Lizzie is mentioned (simply as “Lizzie”) in George and Ira Gershwin‘s song They All Laughed.

Gallery

Model T Ford Automobile Chronology

1908 Runabout – Note flat firewall 1910 Runabout 1911 Touring 1913 Runabout 1914 Touring 1915 Runabout – Note curved cowl panel 1916 Touring 1917 Runabout – Note new curved hood matches cowl panel 1919 Runabout 1920 Touring 1921 Touring 1923 Runabout (early ’23 model) 1924 Touring – Note higher hood and slightly shorter cowl panel – late ’23 models were similar 1925 Touring 1926 Runabout – Note higher hood and longer cowl panel 1926 Touring 1927 Runabout 1927 Model A – Shown for comparison, note wider body and curved doors

(1932–1937, UK)Ford Model Y

Ford Model Y
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford of Britain Ford SAF Ford Germany
Production	1932–37 175,000 made.
Body and chassis
Body style	2-door saloon 4-door saloon 2-door estate 2-door van 2-door pickup
Powertrain
Engine	0.9 L Straight-4
Dimensions
Wheelbase	78 in (1,981 mm)
Length	141 in (3,581 mm)
Width	55 in (1,397 mm)
Height	64 in (1,626 mm)
Curb weight	1,540 lb (700 kg)
Chronology
Successor	Ford 7Y

The Model Y is the first Ford automobile specifically designed for markets outside the United States of America, replacing the Model A in Europe.

Production locations

It was in production in England, where it is sometimes remembered as the “Ford Eight”,reflecting its fiscal horsepower rating, from 1932 until September 1937,

The car was also produced in France (where it was known as the Ford 6 CV, despite actually falling within the 5CV French car tax band) from 1932 to 1934, and in Germany as the Ford Köln from 1933 to 1936.

Smaller numbers were assembled in Australia (where a coupé version was also produced), Japan, Latvia (branded as the Ford Junior) and in Spain (branded as the Ford Forito). Plans to build it in the U.S. were scrubbed when a cost accounting showed that it would only be slightly cheaper to build than the Ford Model B.

The car

The car was powered by a 933 cc, 8 (RAC)hp Ford Sidevalve engine. The little Ford was available in two and four-door versions. In June 1935 a reduced specification two-door model was the only closed-body car ever to sell in Britain for just £100, a price it held until July 1937.

The suspension was by the traditional Ford transverse leaf springs front and rear and the engine drove the rear wheels through a three-speed gearbox which, right from the start, featured synchromesh between the top two ratios. The maximum speed was just under 60 mph (95 km/h) and fuel consumption was 32 miles per imperial gallon (8.8 L/100 km; 27 mpg_-US).

Even by the standards of the time, the UK-built Ford 8, like its major competitor the Austin 7, was found noteworthy for its “almost unbelievable lack of brakes.”

Evolution

For the first 14 months the original model with a short radiator grille was produced, this is known as the “short rad”. After this in October 1933 the “long rad” model, with its longer radiator grille and front bumper with the characteristic dip was produced. By gradually improving production efficiency and by simplifying the body design the cost of a “Popular” Model Y was reduced to £100, making it the cheapest true 4-seater saloon ever, although most customers were persuaded to pay extra for a less austere version. Both 4-door (Fordor) and 2-door (Tudor) saloons were produced and these could be had either with a fixed roof, or the slightly more expensive sliding “sun” roof.

Additional body version

Also offered was an attractive 5 cwt van, which proved very popular with small businesses.

Ford did not produce an open-top car because it was thought that the chassis was too flexible, but several specialist coach builders produced a range of Model Y tourers.

Commercial

Market reaction in Britain

Although of American design, the Model Y took the British market by storm, and when it was first introduced it made a major dent in the sales figures of Austin, Morris, Singer, and Hillman. It went on to take more than 50 per cent of the 8(RAC)HP sales.

Volumes

Some 175,000 Model Ys were produced worldwide (153,117 in England, 11,121 in Germany) and the ‘Y’ and ‘C’ Register has knowledge of approximately 1250 survivors.

Ford Model C:a successor in Germany but not in Britain

In Britain the larger and faster 10(RAC)hp Model C never sold in such great numbers as the Model Y although there was a very attractive factory produced tourer. In 1935 the styling was enhanced with some small modifications and the model was designated the CX.

In Germany the position was reversed. The locally produced Ford Model C was branded as the Ford Eifel, and remained in production for four years after the manufacturer had given up on the locally produced Type Y, the Ford Köln. The Ford Köln was outcompeted by the Opel 1.0/1.2 litre, and only 11,121 Kölns were produced, while a more respectable 62,495 Ford Eifels were manufactured between 1935 and 1940.

End of Part II

FORD Motor Company Dearborn Michigan USA 1903 – still going strong Part I

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company

The Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, USA, also known as the Glass House.
Type	Public company
Traded as	NYSE: F (S&P 500 Component)
Industry	Automotive
Founded	June 16, 1903; 111 years ago
Founder	Henry Ford
Headquarters	Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	William C. Ford, Jr. (Executive Chairman) Mark Fields (President & CEO)
Products	Automobiles Luxury Vehicles Commercial Vehicles Automotive parts
Services	Automotive finance Vehicle leasing Vehicle service
Revenue	US$146.91 billion (2013)
Operating income	US$5.42 billion (2013)
Net income	US$7.15 billion (2013)
Total assets	US$202.02 billion (2013)
Total equity	US$26.38 billion (2013)
Owner	Ford Family (2%)
Number of employees	181,000 (2013)
Divisions	Ford Lincoln Motorcraft Mercury (defunct)
Subsidiaries	List Transportation Ford Australia Ford Performance Vehicles Ford do Brasil Troller Ford of Europe Ford of Britain Ford Germany Ford Romania Ford Racing Ford Team RS Special Vehicle Team Ford Lio Ho (70%) AutoAlliance Thailand (50%) Blue Diamond Trucks (50%) Ford Sollers (50%) Jiangling Motors (49%) Otosan (41%) Changan Ford Mazda (35%) Aston Martin (8%) Mazda (2.1%) Finance Ford Credit Other Automotive Components Holdings Getrag (50%) International Ford of Argentina Ford of Canada Ford of India Ford of Japan Ford of Korea Ford of New Zealand Ford of Philippines Ford of Taiwan
Slogan	Go Further Built Ford Tough
Website	www.ford.com

The Ford Motor Company (commonly referred to as simply Ford) is an American multinational automaker headquartered 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 also owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer, Troller, and Australian performance car manufacturer FPV. In the past it has also produced tractors and automotive components. Ford owns a 2.1% stake in Mazda of Japan, an 8% stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom, and a 49% stake in Jiangling of China. It also has a number of joint-ventures, two in China (Changan Ford Mazda and Ford Lio Ho), one in Thailand (AutoAlliance Thailand), one in Turkey (Ford Otosan), and one in Russia (Ford Sollers). It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford family, although they have minority ownership. It is described by Forbes as “the most important industrial company in the history of the United States.”

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 the world as Fordism. Ford’s former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover, acquired in 1989 and 2000 respectively, 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, Mexico, and the Middle East since 1938.

Ford is the second-largest U.S.-based automaker (preceded by General Motors) and the fifth-largest in the world based on 2010 vehicle sales. At the end of 2010, Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe. Ford is the eighth-ranked overall American-based company in the 2010 Fortune 500 list, based on global revenues in 2009 of $118.3 billion. In 2008, Ford produced 5.532 million automobiles and employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants and facilities worldwide.

The company went public in 1956 but the Ford family, through special Class B shares, still retain 40 percent voting rights.

History

Henry Ford (ca. 1919)

Ford Model N

This article is about the automobile. For the tractor, see Ford N-Series tractor.

Ford Model N
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Also called	Ford Model R Ford Model S
Production	1906–1908 13,250 produced
Designer	Henry Ford
Body and chassis
Class	Entry-level car
Body style	2-row phaeton
Powertrain
Engine	149CID 15hp Model N Engine Straight-4
Transmission	2-speed planetary
Dimensions
Wheelbase	84 in (213 cm)
Curb weight	800 lb (363 kg) (1906); 1,050 lb (476 kg) (1907 Model N); 1,400 lb (635 kg) (1907 Models R and S)
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Model F
Successor	Ford Model T

The Ford Model N is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company. It was introduced in 1906 as a successor to the Models A and C as the company’s inexpensive entry-level line.

The Model N diverged from its predecessors in that it was a front-engine car with a 4-cylinder engine. The 15 hp straight-4 drove the rear wheels via a long shaft. This was also the first American car to use vanadium steel. The car had a wheelbase size of 84 in (2.1 m).

A successful model, 7000 cars were made until production ended in 1908. At US$500 the car was viewed as highly affordable at the time; by contrast, the high-volume Oldsmobile Runabout went for $650, Western‘s Gale Model A was $500, the Brush Runabout $485, the Black went for as low as $375, and the Success hit the amazingly low $250. Maroon was the only factory color for the Model N.

Model R

The Model R was a higher trim level of the Model N with a larger body, wheels covered by full cycle fenders, running boards, and an oil lamp. Model R was $750, $150 above the $600 base Model N. The Model R was only produced in 1907, from April through October, and 2500 were sold. Its color was red.

Model S

The Model S was another adaptation of the Model N. Ford’s last US market right-hand-drive model, it featured a more modern cowl, with hood and fenders that flowed into full running boards. Another notable difference was the optional extra third mother-in-law seat behind the front bench. The basic model sold for $700. Extras such as a convertible top, gas lamps, as well as umbrella holders were available. 3750 cars were sold between 1907 and 1909.

 A 1910 Model T, photographed in Salt Lake City

Main article: History of Ford Motor Company

20th century

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 (who would later found their own car company). During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack 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 a decade the company would lead the world in the expansion and refinement of the assembly line concept; and 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, as well as being one to survive the Great Depression. As one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.

After the first modern automobile was already created in the year 1886 by German inventor Carl Benz (Benz Patent-Motorwagen), more efficient production methods were needed to make the automobile affordable for the middle-class; which Ford contributed to, for instance by introducing the first moving assembly line in 1913.

In 1908 Ford introduced the first engine with a removable cylinder head, in the Model T.

Ford Model T

  (Redirected from Model T)

Ford Model T
1919 Ford Model T Coupe
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Motor Company
Production	1908–1927
Assembly	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.; Highland Park, Michigan, U.S.; Buffalo, New York, U.S.; Los Angeles, California, U.S.; Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.; St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.; St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.; Dothan, Alabama, U.S.; Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.; San Francisco, California, U.S.; Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.; Columbus, Ohio, U.S.; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Geelong, Australia; São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil; Toronto, Canada; Walkerville, Canada; Copenhagen, Denmark; Manchester, United Kingdom; Berlin, Germany; Cork, Ireland; Cádiz, Spain
Designer	Henry Ford, Childe Harold Wills, Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas
Body and chassis
Class	Full-size Ford, economy car
Body style	2-door touring (1909–11) 3-door touring (1912–1925) 4-door touring (1926–1927) no door roadster (1909–11) 1-door roadster(1912–1925) 2-door roadster (1926–1927) roadster pickup (1925–1927) 2-door coupé (1909–1912, 1917–1927) 2-door Coupelet (1915–17) Town car (1909–1918) C-cab wagon (1912) 2-(Center) door sedan (1915–1923) 2-door sedan (1924–1927) 4-door sedan (1923–1927) Separate chassis were available all years from independent coachbuilders
Layout	FR layout
Powertrain
Engine	177 C.I.D. (2.9 L) 20 hp I4
Transmission	2-speed planetary gear
Dimensions
Wheelbase	100.0 in (2,540 mm)
Length	134 in (3,404 mm)
Curb weight	1,200 pounds (540 kg)
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Model S
Successor	Ford Model A

The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie, Tin Lizzy, T‑Model Ford, Model T, or T) is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford‘s Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that opened travel to the common middle-class American; some of this was because of Ford’s efficient fabrication, including assembly lineproduction instead of individual hand crafting.

The Ford Model T was named the most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, ahead of the BMC Mini, Citroën DS, and Volkswagen Type 1, and still makes top ten list of most sold cars (ranked nr. 8) as of 2012.

Although automobiles had already existed for decades, their adoption had been limited, and they were still mostly scarce and expensive. Automobiles were considered extreme luxury for the common man until the Model T. The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile became popular for the mass market. The first production Model T was produced on August 12, 1908 and left the factory on September 27, 1908, at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan. On May 26, 1927, Henry Ford watched the 15 millionth Model T Ford roll off the assembly line at his factory in Highland Park, Michigan.

There were several cars produced or prototyped by Henry Ford from the founding of the company in 1903 until the Model T was introduced. Although he started with the Model A, there were not 19 production models (A through T); some were only prototypes. The production model immediately before the Model T was the Model S, an upgraded version of the company’s largest success to that point, the Model N. The follow-up was the Ford Model A (rather than any Model U). The company publicity said this was because the new car was such a departure from the old that Henry wanted to start all over again with the letter A.

The Model T was Ford’s first automobile mass-produced on moving assembly lines with completely interchangeable parts, marketed to the middle class. Henry Ford said of the vehicle:

I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one – and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.

Although credit for the development of the assembly line belongs to Ransom E. Olds with the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, beginning in 1901, the tremendous advancements in the efficiency of the system over the life of the Model T can be credited almost entirely to the vision of Ford and his engineers.

Characteristics

 1908 Ford Model T advertisement

The Model T was designed by Childe Harold Wills, and Hungarian immigrants Joseph A. Galamb and Eugene Farkas. Henry Love, C. J. Smith, Gus Degner and Peter E. Martin were also part of the team. Production of the Model T began in the third quarter of 1908. Collectors today sometimes classify Model Ts by build years and refer to these as “model years“, thus labeling the first Model Ts as 1909 models. This is a retroactive classification scheme; the concept of model years as we conceive it today did not exist at the time. The nominal model designation was “Model T”, although design revisions did occur during the car’s two decades of production.

Engine

Main article: Ford Model T engine

 1926 Model T engine

The Model T had a front-mounted 177-cubic-inch (2.9 L) inline four-cylinder engine, producing 20 hp (15 kW), for a top speed of 40–45 mph (64–72 km/h). According to Ford Motor Company, the Model T had fuel economy on the order of 13–21 mpg_-US (16–25 mpg_-imp; 18–11 L/100 km). The engine was capable of running on gasoline, kerosene, or ethanol, although the decreasing cost of gasoline and the later introduction of Prohibition made ethanol an impractical fuel for most users.

The ignition system used an unusual trembler coil system to drive the spark plugs, as used for stationary gas engines, rather than the expensive magnetos that were used on other cars. This ignition also made the Model T more flexible as to the quality or type of fuel it used. The need for a starting battery and also Ford’s use of an unusual AC alternator located inside the flywheel housing encouraged the adoption of electric lighting, rather than oil or acetylene lamps, but it also delayed the adoption of electric starting.

Transmission and drive train

 The three pedal controls of the Model T

 A driver’s controls in 1920

The Model T was a rear-wheel drive vehicle. Its transmission was a planetary gear type billed as “three speed”. In today’s terms it would be considered a two-speed, because one of the three speeds was reverse.

The Model T’s transmission was controlled with three foot pedals and a lever that was mounted to the road side of the driver’s seat. The throttle was controlled with a lever on the steering wheel. The left pedal was used to engage the gear. With the floor lever in either the mid position or fully forward and the pedal pressed and held forward the car entered low gear. When held in an intermediate position the car was in neutral. If the driver took his foot off the left pedal, the Model T entered high gear, but only when the lever was fully forward – in any other position the pedal would only move up as far as the central neutral position. This allowed the car to be held in neutral while the driver cranked the engine by hand. The car could thus cruise without the driver having to press any of the pedals. There was no separate clutch pedal.

When the car was in neutral, the middle pedal was used to engage reverse gear, and the right pedal operated the transmission brake – there were no separate brakes on the wheels. The floor lever also controlled the parking brake, which was activated by pulling the lever all the way back. This doubled as an emergency brake.

Although it was uncommon, the drive bands could fall out of adjustment, allowing the car to creep, particularly when cold, adding another hazard to attempting to start the car: a person cranking the engine could be forced backward while still holding the crank as the car crept forward, although it was nominally in neutral. As the car utilized a wet clutch, this condition could also occur in cold weather, where the thickened oil prevents the clutch discs from slipping freely. Power reached the differential through a single universal joint attached to a torque tube which drove the rear axle; some models (typically trucks, but available for cars as well) could be equipped with an optional two-speed Ruckstell rear axle shifted by a floor-mounted lever which provided an underdrive gear for easier hill climbing. All gears were vanadium steel running in an oil bath.

Transmission bands and linings

There were two main types of band lining material used:

• Cotton – Cotton woven linings were the original type fitted and specified by Ford. Generally, the cotton lining is “kinder” to the drum surface, with damage to the drum caused only by the retaining rivets scoring the drum surface. Although this in itself did not pose a problem, a dragging band resulting from improper adjustment caused overheating transmission and engine, diminished power, and—in the case of cotton linings—rapid destruction of the band lining.
• Wood – Wooden linings were originally offered as a “longer life” accessory part during the life of the Model T. They were a single piece of steam bent cottonwood fitted to the normal Model T Transmission band. These bands give a very different feel to the pedals, with much more of a “bite” feel. The sensation is of a definite “grip” of the drum and seemed to noticeably increase the feel, in particular of the brake drum.

Suspension and wheels

 The suspension components of a Ford Model T. The coil-spring device is an aftermarket accessory, the “Hassler shock absorber”.

Model T suspension employed a transversely mounted semi-elliptical spring for each of the front and rear beam axles which allowed a great deal of wheel movement to cope with the dirt roads of the time.

The front axle was drop forged as a single piece of vanadium steel. Ford twisted many axles eight times and sent them to dealers to be put on display to demonstrate its superiority. The Model T did not have a modern service brake. The right foot pedal applied a band around a drum in the transmission, thus stopping the rear wheels from turning. The previously mentioned parking brake lever operated band brakes acting on the inside of the rear brake drums, which were an integral part of the rear wheel hubs. Optional brakes that acted on the outside of the brake drums were available from aftermarket suppliers.

Wheels were wooden artillery wheels, with steel welded-spoke wheels available in 1926 and 1927.

Tires were pneumatic clincher type, 30 in (76 cm) in diameter, 3.5 in (8.9 cm) wide in the rear, 3 in (7.5 cm) wide in the front. Clinchers needed much higher pressure than today’s tires, typically 60 psi (410 kPa), to prevent them from leaving the rim at speed. Horseshoe nails on the roads, together with the high pressure, made flat tires a common problem.

Balloon tires became available in 1925. They were 21 in × 4.5 in (53 cm × 11 cm) all around. Balloon tires were closer in design to today’s tires, with steel wires reinforcing the tire bead, making lower pressure possible – typically 35 psi (240 kPa) – giving a softer ride. The old nomenclature for tire size changed from measuring the outer diameter to measuring the rim diameter so 21 in (530 mm) (rim diameter) × 4.5 in (110 mm) (tire width) wheels has about the same outer diameter as 30 in (76 cm) clincher tires. All tires in this time period used an inner tube to hold the pressurized air; “tubeless” tires were not generally in use until much later.

Wheelbase was 100 inches (254 cm); while standard tread width was 56 in (142 cm), 60 in (152 cm) tread could be obtained on special order, “for Southern roads”, identical to the pre-Civil War track gauge for many railroads in the former Confederacy.

Colors

By 1918, half of all the cars in the US were Model Ts. However, it was a monolithic bloc; Ford wrote in his autobiography that in 1909 he told his management team that in the future “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”.

However, in the first years of production from 1908 to 1913, the Model T was not available in black^[24] but rather only grey, green, blue, and red. Green was available for the touring cars, town cars, coupes, and Landaulets. Grey was only available for the town cars, and red only for the touring cars. By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. It was only in 1914 that the “any color so long as it is black” policy was finally implemented. It is often stated that Ford suggested the use of black from 1914 to 1926 due to the cheap cost and durability of black paint. During the lifetime production of the Model T, over 30 different types of black paint were used on various parts of the car. These were formulated to satisfy the different means of applying the paint to the various parts, and had distinct drying times, depending on the part, paint, and method of drying.

Body

 1910 Model T, photographed in Salt Lake City

 Ford Speedster T

 1925 Ford “New Model” T Tudor Sedan

Although Ford classified the Model T with a single letter designation throughout its entire life and made no distinction by model years, there were enough significant changes to the body over the production life that the car can be classified into five distinct generations. One of the most immediately visible and identifiable areas of change were in the hood and cowl areas although there were also many other changes made to the vehicle.

• 1909–1914 – T1 – Characterized by a nearly straight, five sided hood, with a flat top containing a center hinge and two side sloping sections containing the folding hinges. The firewall was flat from the windshield down with no distinct cowl.
• 1915–1916 – T2 – The hood design was nearly the same five sided design with the only obvious change being the addition of louvers to the vertical sides. There was a significant change to the cowl area with the windshield relocated significantly behind the firewall and joined with a compound contoured cowl panel.
• 1917–1923 – T3 – The hood design was changed to a tapered design with a curved top. the folding hinges were now located at the joint between the flat sides and the curved top. This is sometime referred to as the low hood to distinguish if from the later hoods. The back edge of the hood now met the front edge of the cowl panel so that no part of the flat firewall was visible outside of the hood. This design was used the longest and during the highest production years accounting for about half of the total number of Model T’s built.
• 1923–1925 – T4 – This change was made during the 1923 calendar year so models built earlier in the year have the older design while later vehicles have the newer design. The taper of the hood was increased and the rear section at the firewall is about an inch taller and several inches wider than the previous design. While this is a relatively minor change, the parts between the third and fourth generation are not interchangeable.
• 1926–1927 – T5 – This design change made the greatest difference in the appearance of the car. The hood was again enlarged with the cowl panel no longer a compound curve and blended much more with the line of the hood. The distance between the firewall and the windshield was also increased significantly. This style is sometimes referred to as the high hood.

The styling on the fifth generation was a preview for the following Model A but the two models are visually quite different as the body on the ‘A was much wider and had curved doors as opposed to the flat doors on the T.

Diverse applications

 A Model T homemade tractor pulling a plow

 Pullford auto-to-tractor conversion advertisement, 1918

When the Model T was designed and introduced, the infrastructure of the world was quite different from today’s. Pavement was a rarity except for sidewalks and a few big-city streets. (The sense of the term “pavement” as equivalent with “sidewalk” comes from that era, when streets and roads were generally dirt and sidewalks were a paved way to walk along them.) Agriculture was the occupation of many people. Power tools were scarce outside factories, as were power sources for them; electrification, like pavement, was found usually only in larger towns. Rural electrification and motorized mechanization were embryonic in North America and Europe, and nonexistent elsewhere.

Henry Ford oversaw the requirements and design of the Model T based on the realities of that world. Consequently, the Model T was (intentionally) almost as much a tractor and portable engine as it was an automobile. It has always been well regarded for its all-terrain abilities and ruggedness. It could travel a rocky, muddy farm lane, ford a shallow stream, climb a steep hill, and be parked on the other side to have one of its wheels removed and a pulley fastened to the hub for a flat belt to drive a bucksaw, thresher, silo blower, conveyor for filling corn cribs or haylofts, baler, water pump (for wells, mines, or swampy farm fields), electrical generator, and countless other applications. One unique application of the Model T was shown in the October 1922 issue of Fordson Farmer magazine. It showed a minister who had transformed his Model T into a mobile church, complete with small organ.

During this era, entire automobiles (including thousands of Model Ts) were even hacked apart by their industrious owners and reconfigured into custom machinery permanently dedicated to a purpose, such as homemade tractors, ice saws, or many others. Dozens of aftermarket companies sold prefab kits to facilitate the T’s conversion from car to tractor. The Model T had been around for a decade before the Fordson tractor became available (1917–1918), and many Ts had been converted for field use. (For example, Harry Ferguson, later famous for his hitches and tractors, worked on Eros Model T tractor conversions before he worked with Fordsons and others.) During the next decade, Model T tractor conversion kits were harder to sell, as the Fordson and then the Farmall (1924), as well as other light and affordable tractors, served the farm market. But during the Depression(1930s), Model T tractor conversion kits had a resurgence, because by then used Model Ts and junkyard parts for them were plentiful and cheap.

Like many popular car engines of the era, the Model T engine was also used on home-built aircraft (such as the Pietenpol Sky Scout) and motorboats.

Many Model Ts were converted into vehicles which could travel across heavy snows with kits on the rear wheels (sometimes with an extra pair of rear-mounted wheels and two sets of continuous track to mount on the now-tandemed rear wheels, essentially making it a half-track) and skis replacing the front wheels. They were popular for rural mail delivery for a time. The common name for these conversions of cars and small trucks wassnowflyers. These vehicles were extremely popular in the northern reaches of Canada where factories were set up to produce them.

A number of companies built Model T–based railcars. In The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux mentions a rail journey in India on such a railcar. The New Zealand Railways Department‘s RM class included a few.

Production

Mass production

 Ford assembly line, 1913

The knowledge and skills needed by a factory worker were reduced to 84 areas. When introduced, the T used the building methods typical at the time, assembly by hand, and production was small. Ford’s Piquette plant could not keep up with demand for the Model T, and only 11 cars were built there during the first full month of production. More and more machines were used to reduce the complexity within the 84 defined areas. In 1910, after assembling nearly 12,000 Model Ts, Henry Ford moved the company to the new Highland Park complex.

As a result, Ford’s cars came off the line in three-minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, reducing production time by a factor of eight (requiring 12.5 hours before, 93 minutes afterwards), while using less manpower. By 1914, the assembly process for the Model T had been so streamlined it took only 93 minutes to assemble a car. That year Ford produced more cars than all other automakers combined. The Model T was a great commercial success, and by the time Henry made his 10 millionth car, 50 percent of all cars in the world were Fords. It was so successful that Ford did not purchase any advertising between 1917 and 1923, instead it became so famous that people now considered it a norm; more than 15 million Model Ts were manufactured, reaching a rate of 9,000 to 10,000 cars a day in 1925, or 2 million annually, more than any other model of its day, at a price of just $260 (or about $3,230 in 2015 dollars). Model T production was finally surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle on February 17, 1972.

Henry Ford’s ideological approach to Model T design was one of getting it right and then keeping it the same; he believed the Model T was all the car a person would, or could, ever need. As other companies offered comfort and styling advantages, at competitive prices, the Model T lost market share. Design changes were not as few as the public perceived, but the idea of an unchanging model was kept intact. Eventually, on May 26, 1927, Ford Motor Company ceased US production and began the changeovers required to produce the Model A. Some of the other Model T factories in the world continued a short while.

Model T engines continued to be produced until August 4, 1941. Almost 170,000 were built after car production stopped, as replacement engines were required to service already produced vehicles. Racers and enthusiasts, forerunners of modern hot rodders, used the Model T’s block to build popular and cheap racing engines, including Cragar, Navarro, and famously the Frontenacs (“Fronty Fords”) of the Chevrolet brothers, among many others.

The Model T employed some advanced technology, for example, its use of vanadium steel alloy. Its durability was phenomenal, and many Model Ts and their parts remain in running order nearly a century later. Although Henry Ford resisted some kinds of change, he always championed the advancement of materials engineering, and often mechanical engineering and industrial engineering.

In 2002, Ford built a final batch of six Model Ts as part of their 2003 centenary celebrations. These cars were assembled from remaining new components and other parts produced from the original drawings. The last of the six was used for publicity purposes in the UK.

Although Ford no longer manufactures parts for the Model T, many parts are still manufactured through private companies as replicas to service the thousands of Model Ts still in operation today. On May 26, 1927 Henry Ford and his son Edsel, drove the 15 millionth Model T out of the factory. This marked the famous automobile’s official last day of production at the main factory.

Price and Production

The assembly line system allowed Ford to sell his cars at a price lower than his competitors due to the efficiency of the system. As he continued to fine tune the system, he was able to keep reducing his costs. As his volume increased, he was able to also lower the prices due to fixed costs being spread over a larger number of vehicles. Other factors affected the price such a material costs and design changes.

The figures below are US production numbers compiled by R.E. Houston, Ford Production Department, August 3, 1927. The figures between 1909 and 1920 are for Ford’s fiscal year. From 1909 to 1913, the fiscal year was from October 1 to September 30 the following calendar year with the year number being the year it ended in. For the 1914 fiscal year, the year was October 1, 1913 through July 31, 1914. Starting in August 1914, and through the end of the Model T era, the fiscal year was August 1 through July 31. Beginning with January 1920 the figures are for the calendar year.

Year	Production	Price for Runabout	Notes
1909	10,666	$825	($21,650 in 2015) Touring car was $850
1910	19,050	$900
1911	34,858	$680
1912	68,773	$590
1913	170,211	$525
1914	202,667	$440	Fiscal year was only 10 months long due to change in end date from Sep 30 to July 31
1915	308,162	$390
1916	501,462	$345
1917	735,020	$500
1918	664,076	$500
1919	498,342	$500
1920	941,042	$395	Production for fiscal year 1920, (August 1, 1919 through July 31, 1920) Price was $550 in March but dropped by Sept
1920	463,451	$395	Production for balance of calendar year, August 1 though Dec 31 Total ‘1920’ production (17 months) = 1,404,493
1921	971,610	$325	Price was $370 in June but dropped by Sept.
1922	1,301,067	$319
1923	2,011,125	$364
1924	1,922,048	$265
1925	1,911,705	$260	($3,500 in 2015) Touring car was $290
1926	1,554,465	$360
1927	399,725	$360	Production ended before mid-year to allow retooling for the Model A

Recycling

Henry Ford used wood scraps from the production of Model Ts to make charcoal. Originally named Ford Charcoal, the name was changed to Kingsford Charcoal after Ford’s brother-in-law E. G. Kingsford brokered the selection of the new charcoal plant site.

First global car

 The first Ford assembly plant in La Boca, Buenos Aires, c. 1921

 A 1923 Ford T in Canada

The Ford Model T was the first automobile built by various countries simultaneously since they were being produced in Walkerville, Canada and in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester, England starting in 1911 and were later assembled in Germany, Argentina, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan, as well as several locations throughout the US. Ford made use of the knock-down kit concept almost from the beginning of the company as freight cost had Ford assembling on the west coast of the US.

The Aeroford was an English automobile manufactured in Bayswater, London, from 1920 to 1925. It was a Model T with distinct hood and grille to make it appear to be a totally different design, what later would have been called badge engineering. The Aeroford sold from £288 in 1920, dropping to £168-214 by 1925. It was available as a two-seater, four-seater, or coupé.

Advertising and marketing

Ford created a massive publicity machine in Detroit to ensure every newspaper carried stories and advertisements about the new product. Ford’s network of local dealers made the car ubiquitous in virtually every city in North America. As independent dealers, the franchises grew rich and publicized not just the Ford but the very concept of automobiling; local motor clubs sprang up to help new drivers and to explore the countryside. Ford was always eager to sell to farmers, who looked on the vehicle as a commercial device to help their business. Sales skyrocketed – several years posted 100% gains on the previous year.

Car clubs

 1919 Ford Model T stakebed

Cars built before 1919 are classed as veteran cars and later models as vintage cars. Today, four main clubs exist to support the preservation and restoration of these cars: the Model T Ford Club International, the Model T Ford Club of America and the combined clubs of Australia. With many chapters of clubs around the world, the Model T Ford Club of Victoria has a membership with a considerable number of uniquely Australian cars. (Australia produced its own car bodies, and therefore many differences occurred between the Australian bodied tourers and the US/Canadian cars.) In the UK, the Model T Ford Register of Great Britain celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010. Many steel Model T parts are still manufactured today, and even fiberglass replicas of their distinctive bodies are produced, which are popular for T-bucket style hot rods (as immortalized in the Jan and Dean surf music song “Bucket T”, which was later recorded by The Who). In 1949, more than twenty years after the end of production, 200,000 Model Ts were registered in the United States. In 2008, it was estimated that about 50,000 to 60,000 Ford Model T remain roadworthy.

In popular media

• John Steinbeck‘s Cannery Row contains a passage about the Model T:

Someone should write an erudite essay on the moral, physical, and aesthetic effect of the Model T Ford on the American nation. Two generations of Americans knew more about the Ford coil than about the clitoris, about the planetary system of gears than the solar system of stars. With the Model T, part of the concept of private property disappeared. Pliers ceased to be privately owned and a tire iron belonged to the last man who had picked it up. Most of the babies of the period were conceived in Model T Fords and not a few were born in them. The theory of the Anglo Saxon home became so warped that it never quite recovered.

• In Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World, where Henry Ford is regarded as a messianic figure, graveyard crosses have been truncated to T’s. Additionally, the calendar is converted to an “A.F.” system, wherein the first calendar year leads from the introduction of the Model T.
• The phrase to “go the way of the Tin Lizzie” is a colloquialism referring to the decline and elimination of a popular product, habit, belief or behavior as a now outdated historical relic which has been replaced by something new.
• The Tin Lizzie is mentioned (simply as “Lizzie”) in George and Ira Gershwin‘s song They All Laughed.

Gallery

Model T Ford Automobile Chronology

1908 Runabout – Note flat firewall 1910 Runabout 1911 Touring 1913 Runabout 1914 Touring 1915 Runabout – Note curved cowl panel 1916 Touring 1917 Runabout – Note new curved hood matches cowl panel 1919 Runabout 1920 Touring 1921 Touring 1923 Runabout (early ’23 model) 1924 Touring – Note higher hood and slightly shorter cowl panel – late ’23 models were similar 1925 Touring 1926 Runabout – Note higher hood and longer cowl panel 1926 Touring 1927 Runabout 1927 Model A – Shown for comparison, note wider body and curved doors

In 1927, Ford introduced the Model A, the first car with safety glass in the windshield. Ford launched the first low priced V8 engine powered car in 1932.

The creation of a scientific laboratory in Dearborn, Michigan in 1951, doing unfettered basic research, lead 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, 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. The Ford Mustang was introduced in 1964. 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 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 healthcare 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.

21st century

William Clay Ford, Jr., great-grandson of Henry Ford, serves as the executive chairman at the board of Ford Motor Company.

By 2005, both Ford and GM‘s corporate bonds had been downgraded to junk status, as a result of high U.S. health care costs for an aging workforce, soaring gasoline prices, eroding market share, and an over dependence 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 a plan to return the company to profitability. Fields previewed the Plan, named The Way Forward, at the December 7, 2005 board meeting of the company 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 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, Ford licensed similar Toyota hybrid technologies to avoid patent infringements. Ford announced that it will team up with electricity supply company Southern California Edison (SCE) to examine the future of plug-in hybrids in terms of how home and vehicle energy systems will work with the electrical grid. Under the multi-million-dollar, multi-year project, Ford will convert a demonstration fleet of Ford Escape Hybrids into plug-in hybrids, and SCE will evaluate how the vehicles might interact with the home and the utility’s electrical grid. Some of the vehicles will 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”), 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. Upon the retirement of President and Chief Operation 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 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 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 approximately 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 gives hourly workers 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 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., and in a show of support, Ford’s Alan Mulally stated that “We at Ford are hopeful that we have enough liquidity. But we also must prepare ourselves for the prospect of further deteriorating economic conditions”. Mulally went on to state that “The collapse of one of our competitors would have a severe impact on Ford” and that Ford Motor Company’s supports both Chrysler and General Motors in their search for government bridge loans in the face of conditions caused by the 2008 financial crisis. Together, the three companies presented action plans for the sustainability of 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, the cost of credit default swaps to insure the debt of Ford was 68 percent 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 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 will stay with the company until 2014. Ford also named Mark Fields, the president of operations in Americas, as its new chief operating officer  Ford’s CEO 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.

Logo evolution

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  1903

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  1909

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  1912

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  1912 variant

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  1927

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  2003–Present

Corporate affairs

Executive management

Members of the Ford board as of July 2014 are: Richard A. Gephardt, Stephen Butler, Ellen Marram, Kimberly Casiano, Mark Fields (President and CEO), Edsel Ford II, Homer Neal, William Clay Ford Jr. (Executive Chairman), Anthony F. Earley, Jr., James P. Hackett, John L. Thornton, James H. Hance, Jr., William W. Helman IV, Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., John C. Lechleiter and Gerald L. Shaheen.

Financial results

In 2010, Ford earned a net profit of $6.6 billion and reduced its debt from $33.6 billion to $14.5 billion lowering interest payments by $1 billion following its 2009 net profit of $2.7 billion. In the U.S., the F-Series was the best-selling vehicle for 2010. Ford sold 528,349 F-Series trucks during the year, a 27.7% increase over 2009, out of a total sales of 1.9 million vehicles, or every one out of four vehicles Ford sold. Trucks sales accounts for a big slice of Ford’s profits, according to USA Today. Ford’s realignment also included the sale of its wholly owned subsidiary, Hertz Rent-a-Car to a private equity group for $15 billion in cash and debt acquisition. The sale was completed on December 22, 2005. A 50–50 joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra of India, called Mahindra Ford India, Limited (MIFL), ended with Ford buying out Mahindra’s remaining stake in the company in 2005. Ford had previously upped its stake to 72% in 1998.

Operations

Ford has manufacturing operations worldwide, including in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and South Africa. Ford also has a cooperative agreement with Russian automaker GAZ.

North America

Ford dealer in Garden City, New York, ca. 1930-1945

In the first five months of 2010, auto sales in the U.S. rose to 4.6 million cars and light trucks, an increase of 17% from a year earlier. The rise was mainly caused by the return of commercial customers that had all but stopped buying in 2009 during the recession. Sales to individual customers at dealerships have increased 13%, while fleet sales have jumped 32%. Ford reported that 37% of its sales in May came from fleet sales when it announced its sales for the month increased 23%. In the first seven months of 2010, vehicle sales of Ford increased 24%, including retail and fleet sales. 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.

Europe

Main article: Ford of Europe

Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre inLaindon, United Kingdom, the largest automotive research and development facility in the country

The Ford Research Center in Aachen, Germany

At first, Ford in Germany and Ford in Britain built different models from one another until the late 1960s, with the Ford Escort and then the Ford Capri being common to both companies. Later on, the Ford Taunus and Ford Cortina became identical, produced in left hand drive and right hand drive respectively. Rationalisation of model ranges meant that production of many models in 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 such as “Jellymould” and “The Salesman’s Spaceship.”

Increasingly, the Ford Motor Company has looked to Ford of Europe for its “world cars”, such as the Mondeo, Focus, and Fiesta, although sales of European-sourced Fords in the U.S. have been disappointing. The Focus has been one exception to this, which has become America’s best selling compact car since its launch in 2000.

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 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 the use of this brand name was discontinued circa 1965. Elsewhere in continental Europe, Ford assembles the Mondeo range in Genk (Belgium), Fiesta in Valencia (Spain) and Cologne (Germany), Ka in Valencia (Spain), Focus in Valencia (Spain), Saarlouis (Germany) and Vsevolozhsk (Russia). Transit production is in Kocaeli (Turkey), Southampton (UK), and Transit Connect in Kocaeli (Turkey).

Ford also owns a joint-venture production plant in Turkey. Ford Otosan, established in 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, 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.

In 2008, Ford acquired a majority stake in Automobile Craiova, Romania. Starting 2009, the Ford Transit Connect was Ford’s first model produced in Craiova, followed, in 2012, by low-capacity car engines and a new small class car, the B-Max.

Ford Europe has broken new ground with a number of relatively futuristic car launches over the last 50 years.

Its 1959 Anglia two-door saloon was one of the most quirky-looking small family cars in Europe at the time of its launch, but buyers soon became accustomed to its looks and it was hugely popular with British buyers in particular. It was still selling well when replaced by the more practical Escort in 1967.

The third incarnation of the Ford Escort was launched in 1980 and marked the company’s move from rear-wheel drive saloons to front-wheel drive hatchbacks in the small family car sector.

The fourth generation Escort was produced from 1990 until 2000, although its successor – the Focus – had been on sale since 1998. On its launch, the Focus was arguably the most dramatic-looking and fine-handling small family cars on sale, and sold in huge volumes right up to the launch of the next generation Focus at the end of 2004.

The 1982 Ford Sierra – replacement for the long-running and massively popular Cortina and Taunus models – was a style-setter at the time of its launch. Its ultramodern aerodynamic design was a world away from a boxy, sharp-edged Cortina, and it was massively popular just about everywhere it was sold. A series of updates kept it looking relatively fresh until it was replaced by the front-wheel drive Mondeo at the start of 1993.

The rise in popularity of small cars during the 1970s saw Ford enter the mini-car market in 1976 with its Fiesta hatchback. Most of its production was concentrated at Valencia in Spain, and the Fiesta sold in huge figures from the very start. An update in 1983 and the launch of an all-new model in 1989 strengthened its position in the small car market.

On October 24, 2012, Ford announced that it would be closing its Genk assembly plant in eastern Belgium by the end of 2014.

Oceania

Ford FG Falcon (Australia)

In Australia and New Zealand, the popular Ford Falcon has long been considered the average family car and is considerably larger than the Mondeo, Ford’s largest car sold in Europe. Between 1960 and 1972, the Falcon was based on a U.S. model of the same name, but since then has been entirely designed and manufactured in Australia, occasionally being manufactured in New Zealand. Like its General Motors rival, the Holden Commodore, the Falcon uses a rear wheel drive layout. High performance variants of the Falcon running locally built engines produce up to 362 hp (270 kW). A ute (short for “utility”, known in the US as pickup truck) version is also available with the same range of drivetrains. In addition, Ford Australia sells highly tuned limited-production Falcon sedans and utes through its performance car division, Ford Performance Vehicles.

In Australia, the Commodore and Falcon have traditionally outsold all other cars and comprise over 20% of the new car market. In New Zealand, Ford was second in market share in the first eight months of 2006 with 14.4 per cent. More recently Ford has axed its Falcon-based LWB variant of its lineup– the Fairlane and LTD ranges, and announced that their Geelong engine manufacturing plant may be shut down from 2013. They have also announced local manufacturing of the Focus small car starting from 2011.

In Australia, the Laser was one of Ford Australia‘s most successful models, and was manufactured in Ford’s Homebush plant from 1981 until the plant’s closure in September 1994. It outsold the Mazda 323, despite being almost identical to it, because the Laser was manufactured in Australia and Ford was perceived as a local brand.

In New Zealand, the Ford Laser and Telstar were assembled alongside the Mazda 323 and 626 until 1997, at the Vehicle Assemblers of New Zealand (VANZ) plant in Wiri, Auckland. The Sierra wagon was also assembled in New Zealand, owing to the popularity of station wagons in that market.

The scheduled closure of Ford’s Australian manufacturing base in 2016 was confirmed in late May 2013. Headquartered in the Victorian suburb of Broadmeadows, the company had registered losses worth AU$600 million over the five years prior to the announcement. It was noted that the corporate fleet and government sales that account for two-thirds of large, local car sales in Australia are insufficient to keep Ford’s products profitable and viable in Australia. The decision will affect 1200 Ford workers—over 600 employees in Geelong and more than 500 in Broadmeadows—who will lose their jobs by October 2016.

East and Southeast Asia

Ford formed its first passenger-vehicle joint venture in China in 2001, six years behind GM and more than a decade after VW. It has spent as of 2013 $4.9 billion to expand its lineup and double production capacity in China to 600,000 vehicles. This includes Ford’s largest-ever factory complex in the southwestern city of Chongqing. Ford had 2.5 percent of the Chinese market in 2013, while VW controlled 14.5 percent and GM had 15.6 percent, according to consultant LMC Automotive. GM outsells Ford in China by more than six-to-one.

The Ford stamping plant in Geelong, Australia

With the acquisition of a stake in Japanese manufacturer Mazda in 1979, Ford began selling Mazda’s Familia and Capella (also known as the 323 and 626) as the Ford Laser and Telstar, replacing the European-sourced Escort and Cortina. Through its relationship with Mazda, Ford also acquired a stake in South Korean manufacturer Kia, which built the (Mazda-based) Ford Festiva from 1988–1993, and the Ford Aspire from 1994–1997 for export to the United States, but later sold their interest to Hyundai (which also manufactured the Ford Cortina until the 1980s). Kia continued to market the Aspire as the Kia Avella, later replaced by the Rio and once again sold in the US.

Ford’s presence in Asia has traditionally been much smaller, confined to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Taiwan, where Ford has had a joint venture with Lio Ho since the 1970s. Ford began assembly of cars in Thailand in 1960, but withdrew from the country in 1976, and did not return until 1995, when it formed a joint venture with Mazda called Auto Alliance. Now in Bo-win Sub District, Sriracha District of the Chonburi it is located The Ford Motor Company (Thailand) Limited, making passenger automobiles. The factory built in 1941 in Singapore was shortly taken over by the Japanese during the war and was the site of a surrender of the British to the Japanese, at the factory site which is now a national monument in Singapore.

On April 30, 2013, Ford Motor Co. launched their car and truck line in Myanmar. Previously, heavy importation taxes have stifled imported car purchases in Myanmar, but due to currency reform, lifting of previous import restrictions, and the abolishment of shadow currency, Myanmar’s car market has grown in demand.

Ford of Japan

Ford established a manufacturing facility in the port city of Yokohama in February 1925, where Model T vehicles were assembled using imported knock-down kits. The factory subsequently produced 10,000 Model A’s up to 1936. Production ceased in 1940 as a result of political tensions between Japan and the United States.

After World War II, Ford did not have a presence in Japan, as the Ford facility was appropriated by the Japanese Government until 1958, when property was returned as a possession of the Ford Motor Company and became a research and development location for Ford partner Mazda. In 1979, Ford acquired a 24.5% ownership stake in Mazda, and in 1982 Ford and Mazda jointly established a sales channel to sell Ford products in Japan, including vehicles manufactured in North America, at a dealership called Autorama(Japanese). The Autorama sales channel was renamed Ford Sales of Japan in 1997.

Vehicles sold at Autorama locations were the North American assembled Ford Explorer, Probe (1989–1998), Mustang, Taurus (1989–1997), Thunderbird (1990–1993), Lincoln Continental, and Lincoln LS. Ford products manufactured in Europe that were sold in Japan were the Ford Mondeo, Ka, Focus, Focus C-MAX, Fiesta, and the Galaxy. Mazda manufactured Ford vehicles in Japan and sold them as Fords at the Autorama locations. They were the Ford Telstar (Mazda Capella), Laser, Festiva, Festiva Mini Wagon,Ixion (Mazda Premacy), Freda (Mazda Bondo Friendee), Spectron (Mazda Bongo), and commercial trucks J80 and the J100 (Mazda Bongo truck).

Ford increased its shareholding in Mazda to 33.4% in 1996. Ford currently sells a small range of vehicles in Japan; as of October 2010, the Ford Mustang, Escape, Explorer (and Explorer truck), Ford Kuga, Lincoln Navigator and Lincoln MKX were available in Japan. Ford maintains a regional office in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.

South and West Asia

Ford India began production in 1998 at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, with its Ford Escort model, which was later replaced by locally produced Ford Ikon in 2001. It has since added Fusion, Fiesta, Mondeo and Endeavour to its product line.

On March 9, 2010, Ford Motor Co. launched its first made-for-India compact car. Starting at 349,900 ($7,690), the Figo is Ford’s first car designed and priced for the mass Indian market. On July 28, 2011, Ford India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State of Gujarat for the construction of an assembly and engine plant in Sanand, and planned to invest approximately US$1 billion on a 460-acre site.

Ford’s market presence in the Middle East has traditionally been small, partly due to previous Arab boycotts of companies dealing with Israel. Ford and Lincoln vehicles are currently marketed in ten countries in the region. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE are the biggest markets. Ford also established itself in Egypt in 1926, but faced an uphill battle during the 1950s due to the hostile nationalist business environment. Ford’s distributor in Saudi Arabia announced in February 2003 that it had sold 100,000 Ford and Lincoln vehicles since commencing sales in November 1986. Half of the Ford/Lincoln vehicles sold in that country were Ford Crown Victorias. In 2004, Ford sold 30,000 units in the region, falling far short of General Motors‘ 88,852 units and Nissan Motors‘ 75,000 units.

South America

During much of the 20th century, Ford faced protectionist government measures in South America, with the result that it built different models in different countries, without particular regard to rationalization or economy of scale inherent to producing and sharing similar vehicles between the nations. In many cases, new vehicles in a country were based on those of the other manufacturers it had entered into production agreements with, or whose factories it had acquired. For example, the Corcel and Del Rey in Brazil were originally based on Renault vehicles.

In 1987, Ford of Brasil and Ford of Argentina merged their operations with the Brazilian and Argentinan operations of Volkswagen Group, forming a new joint-venture company called Autolatina with a shared model range. Sales figures and profitability were disappointing, and Autolatina was dissolved in 1995. With the advent of Mercosur, the regional common market, Ford was finally able to rationalize its product line-ups in those countries. Consequently, the Ford Fiesta and Ford EcoSport are only built in Brazil, and the Ford Focus only built in Argentina, with each plant exporting in large volumes to the neighboring countries. Models like the Ford Mondeo from Europe could now be imported completely built up. Ford of Brazil produces a pick-up truck version of the Fiesta, the Courier, which is also produced in South Africa as the Ford Bantam in right hand drive versions.

Africa

In Africa, Ford’s market presence has traditionally been strongest in South Africa and neighbouring countries, with only trucks being sold elsewhere on the continent. Ford in South Africa began by importing kits from Canada to be assembled at its Port Elizabeth facility. Later Ford sourced its models from the UK and Australia, with local versions of the Ford Cortina including the XR6, with a 3.0 V6 engine, and a Cortina-based ‘bakkie’ or pick-up, which was exported to the UK. In the mid-1980s Ford merged with a rival company, owned by Anglo American, to form the South African Motor Corporation (Samcor).

Following international condemnation of apartheid, Ford divested from South Africa in 1988, and sold its stake in Samcor, although it licensed the use of its brand name to the company. Samcor began to assemble Mazdas as well, which affected its product line-up, and saw the European Fords like the Escort and Sierra replaced by the Mazda-based Laser and Telstar. Ford bought a 45 per cent stake in Samcor following the demise of apartheid in 1994, and this later became, once again, a wholly owned subsidiary, the Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa. Ford now sells a local sedan version of the Fiesta (also built in India and Mexico), and the Focus. The Falcon model from Australia was also sold in South Africa, but was dropped in 2003, while the Mondeo, after briefly being assembled locally, was dropped in 2005.

Products and services

Automobiles

See also: List of Ford vehicles and List of Mercury vehicles

The 2013 model year Lincoln MKS

Ford Motor Company sells a broad range of automobiles under the Ford marque worldwide, and an additional range of luxury automobiles under the Lincoln marque in the United States. The company has sold vehicles under a number of other marques during its history. The Mercury brand was introduced by Ford in 1939, continuing in production until 2011 when poor sales led to its discontinuation. In 1958, Ford introduced the Edsel brand, but poor sales led to its discontinuation in 1960. In 1985, the Merkur brand was introduced in the United States to market products produced by Ford of Europe; it was discontinued in 1989.

Ford acquired the British sports car maker Aston Martin in 1989, later selling it on March 12, 2007, although retaining an 8% stake. Ford purchased Volvo Cars of Sweden in 1999, selling it to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2010. In November 2008, it reduced its 33.4% controlling interest in Mazda of Japan to a 13.4% non-controlling interest. On November 18, 2010, Ford reduced their stake further to just 3%, citing the reduction of ownership would allow greater flexibility to pursue growth in emerging markets. Ford and Mazda remain strategic partners through exchanges of technological information and joint ventures, including an American joint venture plant in Flat Rock, Michigan called Auto Alliance. Ford sold the United Kingdom-based Jaguar and Land Rover companies and brands to Tata Motors of India in March 2008.

Marque	Country of origin	Years used/owned	Markets
Ford	United States	1903–Present	Global
Lincoln	United States	1922–Present	North America, Middle East
Mercury	United States	1939 – 2011	North America, Middle East
Edsel	United States	1958 – 1960	North America
Merkur	United States	1985 – 1989	North America
Jaguar	United Kingdom	1989 – 2008	Global
Aston Martin	United Kingdom	1989 – 2007	Global
Volvo	Sweden	1999 – 2010	Global
Land Rover	United Kingdom	2000 – 2008	Global
Mazda	Japan	1996 – 2010	Global
FPV	Australia	2002 – 2014	Australia
Troller	Brazil	2007–Present	Brazil

Trucks

An advert for the 1939 Ford V-8 pick-up truck

An advert for the 1961 Ford H-Series truck

Ford has produced trucks since 1908, beginning with the Ford Model TT, followed by the Model AA, and the Model BB. Countries where Ford commercial vehicles are or were formerly produced include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada (also badged as Mercury), France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Philippines, Spain (badged Ebro too), Turkey, UK (badged also Fordson and Thames) and USA.

From the 1940s to late 1970s Ford’s Ford F-Series were used as the base for light trucks for the North American market.

Most of these ventures are now extinct. The European one that lasted longest was the lorries arm of Ford of Britain, which became part of the Iveco group in 1986. Ford had a minority share in the new company and Iveco took over sales and production of the Ford Cargo range. Ford’s last significant European truck models were the Transcontinental and the Cargo.

In the United States, Ford’s heavy trucks division (Classes 7 and 8) was sold in 1997 to Freightliner Trucks, which rebranded the lineup as Sterling. Freightliner is in the process of discontinuing this line.

Line of heavy trucks made by Ford for the North American market:

• Ford F-650 – joint venture model from 2000 to present
• Ford L9000 – last model year 1999
• Ford LNT9000 – short nose tandem axle from 1970s to 1997
• Ford LT9000 – tandem axle with last model year 1997
• Ford FT900 – until 1998
• Ford LT8000 – last model year 1998
• Ford L7000 – last model year 1996

Ford continues to manufacture medium duty trucks under the F-650 and F-750 badges. In 2001, the company entered into a joint venture with Navistar International to produce medium and heavy duty commercial trucks. The first new model from the new corporation, known as Blue Diamond Truck Company LLC, was the 2006 model year LCF, the first Ford branded cab-over-engine design in the United States since Freightliner’s acquisition of the Cargo in the mid-1990s. The LCF was discontinued in 2009 and Ford’s 2011 medium and heavy-duty commercial offerings are limited to the two F-Series.

In 1999 the end of the F800 indicated Ford was no longer producing in any F-series heavy truck chassis.

In Europe, Ford manufactures the Ford Transit jumbo van which is classed as a Large Goods Vehicle and has a payload of up to 2,265 kg, there are options of a panel van, pickup or chassis cab. The Ford Transit is also available as a light van called the Ford Transit Connect and the Ford Ranger pickup is available.

Buses

A Ford B700 bus chassis, with a body by Thomas Built

Ford manufactured complete buses in the company’s early history, but today the role of the company has changed to that of a second stage manufacturer. In North America, the E-Series is still used as a chassis for small school buses and the F-650 is used in commercial bus markets. In the 1980s and 1990s, the medium-duty B700 was a popular chassis used by school bus body manufacturers including Thomas Built, Ward and Blue Bird, but Ford lost its market share due to industry contraction and agreements between body manufacturers. Older bus models included:

Prior to 1936, Ford buses were based on truck bodies:

• Model B – 1930s
• Model T – 1920s
• F-105 school bus

A 1937 Ford Transit Bus in Seattle

In 1936, Ford introduced the Ford Transit Bus, a series of small transit buses with bodies built by a second party. Originally a front-engine design, it was modified to a rear-engine design in 1939. About 1,000 to 1,200 of the original design were built, and around 12,500 of the rear-engine design, which was in production until 1947 (rebranded as the Universal Bus in 1946).

Rear-engine Transit Bus chassis model numbers:

• 09-B/19-B City transit bus – 1939–1941
• 19-B/29-B City transit bus – 1941–1942
• 49-B/79-B City transit bus – 1944–1947
• 69-B City transit bus – 1946–1947
• 29-B City transit bus – 1946–1947
• 72-T transit bus – 1944–1945

After 1946 the Transit City bus was sold as the Universal Bus with the roof changed from fabric/wood to all-metal:

• 79-B Universal transit bus – 1946–1947

Succeeding the Ford Transit Bus was the Ford 8M buses:

• 8MB transit bus – with Wayne Works 1948–?

Following World War II and from 1950s onwards Ford lost out to General Motors. This led to the end of transit buses for Ford in North America.

• B500 or B-series – 1950-1990s based on Ford F-series truck chassis used by school bus body manufacturers

In Europe, Ford manufactures the Ford Transit Minibus which is classed in Europe as a Passenger Carrying Vehicle and there are options of 12, 15 or 17 seaters. In the past European models included:

• EM
• N-138
• D series buses (Australia)

Tractors

A Ford N series tractor

The “Henry Ford and Son Company” began making Fordson tractors in Henry’s hometown of Springwells (later part of Dearborn), Michigan from 1907 to 1928, from 1919 to 1932, at Cork, Ireland, and 1933–1964 at Dagenham, England, later transferred to Basildon. They were also produced in Leningrad beginning in 1924.

In 1986, Ford expanded its tractor business when it purchased the Sperry-New Holland skid-steer loader and hay baler, hay tools and implement company from Sperry Corporation and formed Ford-New Holland which bought out Versatile tractors in 1988. This company was bought by Fiat in 1993 and the name changed from Ford New Holland to New Holland. New Holland is now part of CNH Global.

Financial services

Ford offers automotive finance through Ford Motor Credit Company.

Automotive components

Ford’s FoMoCo parts division sells aftermarket parts under the Motorcraft brand name. It has spun off its parts division under the name Visteon.

Motorsport

Main article: Ford Racing

Along with Shelby and Chevrolet, Ford is one of only three American constructors to win titles on the international scene at the FIA World Championships. As a constructor, Ford won the World Sportscar Championship three times in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and theWorld Rally Championship three times in 1979, 2006 and 2007.

Stock car racing

NASCAR Ford Fusion race car

Ford is one of three manufacturers in NASCAR‘s three major series: Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series. Major teams include Roush Fenway Racing, Team Penske, and Richard Petty Motorsports. Ford is represented by the mid-size Fusion in the Sprint Cup, the Mustang in the Nationwide Series, and by the F-150 in the Camping World Truck Series. Some of the most successful NASCAR Fords were the aerodynamic fastback Ford Torino, Ford Torino Talladega, Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II, and Mercury Montegos, and the aero-era Ford Thunderbirds. The Ford nameplate has won eight manufacturer’s championships in Sprint Cup, while Mercury has won one. In the Sprint Cup Series, Ford earned its 1,000th victory in the 2013 Quicken Loans 400. The Ford Fusion is also used in the ARCA Remax Series. Ford had last won a drivers’ championship in the Cup Series with Kurt Busch in 2004.

Formula One

Ford was heavily involved in Formula One for many years, and supplied engines to a large number of teams from 1967 until 2004. These engines were designed and manufactured by Cosworth, the racing division that was owned by Ford from 1998 to 2004. Ford-badged engines won 176 Grands Prix between 1967 and 2003 for teams such as Team Lotus and McLaren. Ford entered Formula One as a constructor in 2000 under the Jaguar Racing name, after buying the Stewart Grand Prix team which had been its primary ‘works’ team in the series since 1997. Jaguar achieved little success in Formula One, and after a turbulent five seasons, Ford withdrew from the category after the 2004 season, selling both Jaguar Racing (which became Red Bull Racing) and Cosworth (to Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven).

Rally

Jari-Matti Latvala driving the Ford Focus RS WRC 09 in 2010.

Main article: Ford World Rally Team

Ford has a long history in rallying and has been active in the World Rally Championship since the beginning of the world championship, the 1973 season. Ford took the 1979 manufacturers’ title with Hannu Mikkola, Björn Waldegård and Ari Vatanen driving the Ford Escort RS1800. In the Group B era, Ford achieved success with Ford RS200. Since the 1999 season, Ford has used various versions of the Ford Focus WRC to much success. In the 2006 season, BP-Ford World Rally Team secured Ford its second manufacturers’ title, with the Focus RS WRC 06 built by M-Sport and driven by “Flying Finns” Marcus Grönholm and Mikko Hirvonen. Continuing with Grönholm and Hirvonen, Ford successfully defended the manufacturers’ world championship in the 2007 season. Ford is the only manufacturer to score in the points for 92 consecutive races; since the 2002 season opener Monte Carlo Rally.

Sports cars

Main article: Ford GT § Racing

Ford sports cars have been visible in the world of sports car racing since 1964. Most notably the GT40 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times in the 1960s and is the only American car to ever win overall at this prestigious event. Ford also won the 1968 International Championship for Makes with the GT40, which still stands today as one of the all-time greatest racing cars. Swiss team Matech GT Racing, in collaboration with Ford Racing, opened a new chapter with the Ford GT, winning the Teams title in the 2008 FIA GT3 European Championship.

Ford Mustang GT (racing GT car)

Main article: Ford Mustang § Racing

The Ford Mustang has arguably been Ford’s most successful sports car. Jerry Titus won the 1965 SCCA Pro B National Championship with a Mustang and the model went on to earn Ford the SCCA Trans-Am Championshiptitle in both 1966 and 1967. Ford won the Trans-Am Championship again in 1970 with Parnelli Jones and George Follmer driving Boss 302 Mustangs for Bud Moore Engineering. Ford took the 1985 and 1986 IMSA GTO Championship with Mustangs driven by John Jones and Scott Pruett before returning to Trans-Am glory with a championship in 1989 with Dorsey Schroeder. Ford dominated Trans-Am in the 1990s with Tommy Kendalwinning championships in 1993, 1995, 1996, and 1997 with Paul Gentilozzi adding yet another title in 1999. In 2005 the Ford Mustang FR500C took the championship in the Rolex Koni Challenge Series in its first year on the circuit. In 2007 Ford added a victory in the GT4 European Championship. 2008 was the first year of the Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup, a series which pits a full field of identical factory built Ford Mustang race cars against each other. Also in 2008, Ford won the manufacturers championship in the Koni Challenge Series and HyperSport drivers Joe Foster and Steve Maxwell won the drivers title in a Mustang GT.

Touring cars

Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon V8 Supercar at Eastern Creek in Australia in 2008.

Ford has campaigned touring cars such as the Focus, Falcon, and Contour/Mondeo and the Sierra Cosworth in many different series throughout the years. Notably, Mondeo drivers finished 1,2,3 in the 2000 British Touring Car Championship and Falcon drivers placed 1,2,3 in the 2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Other

In the Indianapolis 500, Ford powered IndyCars won 17 times between 1965 and 1996. Ford has also branched out into drifting with the introduction of the new model Mustang. Most noticeable is the Turquoise and Blue Falken Tires Mustang driven by Vaughn Gittin Jr, A.K.A. “JR” with 750 RWHP (Rear Wheel Horsepower). In drag racing, John Force Racing drivers John Force, Tony Pedregon, and Robert Hight have piloted Ford Mustang Funny Cars to several NHRA titles in recent seasons. Teammates Tim Wilkerson and Bob Tasca III also drive Mustangs in Funny Car. Formula Ford, a formula for single-seater cars without wings and originally on road tires were conceived in 1966 in the UK as an entry-level formula for racing drivers. Many of today’s racing drivers started their car racing careers in this category.

Environmental initiatives

Compressed natural gas

The alternative fossil fuel vehicles, such as some versions of the Crown Victoria especially in fleet and taxi service, operate on compressed natural gas—or CNG. Some CNG vehicles have dual fuel tanks – one for gasoline, the other for CNG – the same engine can operate on either fuel via a selector switch.

Flexible fuel vehicles

The Ford Focus Flexifuel was the first E85 flexible fuel vehiclecommercially available in the European market.

Flexible fuel vehicles are designed to operate smoothly using a wide range of available ethanol fuel mixtures—from pure gasoline, to bioethanol-gasoline blends such as E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) or E100 (neathydrous ethanol) in Brazil. Part of the challenge of successful marketing alternative and flexible fuel vehicles in the U.S., is the general lack of establishment of sufficient fueling stations, which would be essential for these vehicles to be attractive to a wide range of consumers. Significant efforts to ramp up production and distribution of E85 fuels are underway and expanding. Current Ford E100 Flex sold in the Brazilian market are the Courier, Ford EcoSport, Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus and Ford Ka.

Electric drive vehicles

Hybrid electric vehicles

Ford Escape plug-in hybrid test vehicle.

Mulally (second from left) with then-President George W. Bush at the Kansas City Assembly plant in Claycomo, Missouri on March 20, 2007,touting Ford’s new hybrid cars.

See also: Hybrid electric vehicle

In 2004 Ford and Toyota agreed a patent sharing accord which granted Ford access to certain hybrid technology patented by Toyota; in exchange Ford licensed Toyota some of its own patents. In 2004 Ford introduced the Escape Hybrid. With this vehicle, Ford was third to the automotive market with a hybrid electric vehicle and the first hybrid electric SUV to market. This was also the first hybrid electric vehicle with a flexible fuel capability to run on E85. The Escape’s platform mate Mercury Mariner was also available with the hybrid-electric system in the 2006 model year—a full year ahead of schedule. The similar Mazda Tribute will also receive a hybrid-electric powertrain option, along with many other vehicles in the Ford vehicle line.

In 2005 Ford announced a goal to make 250,000 hybrids a year by 2010, but by mid-2006 announced that it would not meet that goal, due to excessively high costs and the lack of sufficient supplies of the hybrid-electric batteries and drivetrain system components.^[92] Instead, Ford has committed to accelerating development of next-generation hybrid-electric power plants in Britain, in collaboration with Volvo. This engineering study is expected to yield more than 100 new hybrid-electric vehicle models and derivatives.

In September 2007 Ford announced a partnership with Southern California Edison (SCE) to examine how plug-in hybrids will work with the electrical grid. Under the multi-million-dollar, multi-year project, Ford will convert a demonstration fleet of Ford Escape Hybrids into plug-in hybrids, and SCE will evaluate how the vehicles might interact with the home and the utility’s electrical grid. Some of the vehicles will be evaluated “in typical customer settings”, according to Ford.

On June 12, 2008 USDOE expanded its own fleet of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles with the addition of a Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid Flex-Fuel Vehicle. The vehicle is equipped with a 10-kilowatt (13 hp)lithium-ion battery supplied by Johnson Controls-Saft that stores enough electric energy to drive up to 30 miles (48 km) at speeds of up to 40 mph (64 km/h). In March 2009 Ford launched hybrid versions of the Ford Fusion Hybrid and the Mercury Milan Hybrid in the United States, both as 2010 models.

As of November 2014, Ford has produced for retail sales the following hybrid electric vehicles: Ford Escape Hybrid (2004–2012), Mercury Mariner Hybrid (2005–2010), Mercury Milan Hybrid (2009–2010), Ford Fusion Hybrid(2009–present), Lincoln MKZ Hybrid (20010–present), Ford C-Max Hybrid (2012–present), and Ford Mondeo Hybrid (2014–present). By June 2012 Ford had sold 200,000 full hybrids in the US since 2004, and, as of September 2014, the carmaker has sold over 344 thousand hybrids in the United States. The top selling hybrids in the U.S. market are the Fusion Hybrid with 127,572 units, followed by Escape Hybrid with 117,997 units, and the C-Max Hybrid with 54,236. As of November 2014, Ford is the world’s second largest manufacturer of hybrids after Toyota Motor Corporation, with 400,000 hybrid electric vehicles produced since their introduction in 2004.

Plug-in electric vehicles

See also: Plug-in electric vehicle

As of October 2014, Ford has produced the following plug-in electric vehicles: the all-electric Ford Ranger EV (1997–2002), Ford TH!NK (1999–2003), Transit Connect (2010–2012), and Ford Focus Electric (December 2011–present); and the plug-in hybrids C-MAX Energi (October 2012–present) and the Fusion Energi (February 2013–present). Since the launch of the Focus Electric in 2011, Ford has sold 35,391 plug-in electric passenger vehicles through September 2014.

The Azure Transit Connect Electricwas produced between 2010 and 2012 as a collaboration between Azure Dynamics and Ford Motor Company

Bill Ford was one of the first top industry executives to make regular use of a battery electric vehicle, a Ford Ranger EV, while the company contracted with the United States Postal Service to deliver electric postal vans based on the Ranger EV platform. Ford discontinued a line of electric Ranger pickup trucks and ordered them destroyed, though it reversed in January 2005, after environmentalist protest. The all-electric pickup truck leased 205 units to individuals and 1,500 units to fleets in the U.S. from 1998 to 2002.

From 2009 to 2011 Ford offered the Ford TH!NK car. Ford ended production and ordered all the cars repossessed and destroyed, even as many of the people leasing them begged to be able to buy the cars from Ford. After outcry from the lessees and activists in the US and Norway, Ford returned the cars to Norway for sale. A total of 440 units were leased in the U.S. from 1999 until 2003.

The Azure Transit Connect Electric was an all-electric van developed as a collaboration between Azure Dynamics and Ford Motor Company, but Azure was the official manufacturer of record. The Transit Connect Electric had an official US Environmental Protection Agency all-electric range of 56 mi (90 km). The EPA rated the combined city/highway fuel economy at 62 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (3.8 L/100 km equivalent). Deliveries for fleet customers in the U.S. and Canada began in December 2010. Production of the electric van was stopped in March 2012 as a result of Azure’s bankruptcy protection filing. Ford continues to provide servicing. Around 500 units were sold before Azure stopped production.

The Ford Fusion Energi is a plug-in hybrid and shares its powertrain with the Ford C-Max Energi.

The Ford Focus Electric is based on the next generation Focus internal combustion vehicle, converted to an all-electric propulsion system as a production electric car by Magna International, and retail sales began in the U.S. in December 2011. The Focus Electric has an EPA rated range of 76 mi (122 km) and a combined city/highway fuel economy of 105 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (2.2 L/100 km). Available also in Canada and several European countries, a total of 3,965 units have been sold in the U.S. through September 2014.

The Ford C-Max Energi is a plug-in hybrid released in the U.S. in October 2012. The C-Max Energi has an EPA rated all-electric range of 20 mi (32 km) and a combined city/highway fuel economy in all-electric mode at 88MPG-e (2.7 L/100 km). U.S. sales totaled 16,014 units through September 2014. Deliveries of the Ford Fusion Energi began in the United States in February 2013. The Fusion Energi has an all-electric range of 20 mi (32 km) and an equivalent fuel economy EPA rating of 88 MPG-e (2.7 L/100 km). A total of 15,412 units have been delivered in the U.S. through September 2014. Both Energi models share the same powertrain technology, and have the same EPA combined city/highway fuel economy in hybrid operation of 38 mpg_-US (6.2 L/100 km; 46 mpg_-imp).

Hydrogen

Ford also continues to study Fuel Cell-powered electric powertrains, and has demonstrated hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine technologies, as well as developing the next-generation hybrid-electric systems. Compared with conventional vehicles, hybrid vehicles and/or fuel cell vehicles decrease air pollution emissions as well as sound levels, with favorable impacts upon respiratory health and decrease of noise health effects.

Ford has launched the production of hydrogen-powered shuttle buses, using hydrogen instead of gasoline in a standard internal combustion engine, for use at airports and convention centers. At the 2006 Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, Ford showcased a hydrogen fuel cell version of its Explorer SUV. The Fuel cell Explorer has a combined output of 174 hp (130 kW). It has a large hydrogen storage tank which is situated in the center of the car taking the original place of the conventional model’s automatic transmission. The centered position of the tank assists the vehicle reach a notable range of 350 miles (563 km), the farthest for a fuel cell vehicle so far. The fuel cell Explorer the first in a series of prototypes partly funded by the United States Department of Energyto expand efforts to determine the feasibility of hydrogen- powered vehicles. The fuel cell Explorer is one of several vehicles with green technology being featured at the L.A. show, including the 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid, PZEV emissions compliant Fusion and Focus models and a 2008 Ford F-Series Super Duty outfitted with Ford’s clean diesel technology.

Increased fuel efficiency

Ford Motor Company announced it will accelerate its plans to produce more fuel-efficient cars, changing both its North American manufacturing plans and its lineup of vehicles available in the United States. In terms of North American manufacturing, the company will convert three existing truck and sport utility vehicle (SUV) plants for small car production, with the first conversion at its Michigan Truck Plant. In addition, Ford’s assembly plants near Mexico City, Mexico, and in Louisville, Kentucky, will convert from pickups and SUVs to small cars, including the Ford Fiesta, by 2011. Ford will also introduce to North America six of its European small vehicles, including two versions of the Ford Fiesta, by the end of 2012. And last but not least, Ford is stepping up its production of fuel-efficient “EcoBoost” V-6 and four-cylinder engines, while increasing its production of hybrid vehicles.

Ford of Europe developed the ECOnetic programme to address the market and legislative need for higher fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions. As opposed to the hybrid engine technology used in competitor products such as the Toyota Prius, ECOnetic improves existing technology. Using lower consuming Duratorq TDCi diesel engines, and based on a combination of improved aerodynamics, lower resistance and improved efficiency, the Ford Fiesta is currently the lowest emitting mass-produced car in Europe, while the 2012 Ford Focus ECOnetic will have better fuel consumption than the Prius or the Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion. ECOnetic is not presently planned to be sold in North American due to current perceived lower consumer demand.

Ford has challenged University teams to create a vehicle that is simple, durable, lightweight and come equipped with a base target price of only $7,000. The students from Aachen University created the “2015 Ford Model T“.

In 2000, under the leadership of the current Ford chairman, William Clay Ford, the Company announced a planned 25 percent improvement in the average mileage of its light truck fleet – including its popular SUVs – to be completed by the 2005 calendar year. In 2003, Ford announced that competitive market conditions and technological and cost challenges would prevent the company from achieving this goal.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have, however, listed Ford as the seventh-worst corporate producer of air pollution, primarily because of the manganese compounds, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, and glycol ethers released from its casting, truck, and assembly plants. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has linked Ford to 54 Superfund toxic waste sites, twelve of which have been cleaned up and deleted from the list.

For the 2007 model year, Ford had thirteen U.S. models that achieve 30 miles per gallon or better (based on the highway fuel economy estimates of the EPA) and several of Ford’s vehicles were recognized in the EPA and Department of Energy Fuel Economy Guide for best-in-class fuel economy. Ford claimed to have eliminated nearly three million pounds of smog-forming emissions from their U.S. cars and light trucks over the 2004 to 2006 model years.

PC power management

On March 2010, Ford announced its PC power management system which it developed with NightWatchman software from 1E. The company is expected to save $1.2m on power cost and reduce carbon footprint by an estimated 16,000 to 25,000 metric tons annually when the system is fully implemented.

PC power management is being rolled out to all Ford computer users in US this month and it will be used in Ford operations around the world later in the year. Computers with this power profile enabled will monitor its usage patterns and decides when it can be turned off. PC user will be alerted of the approaching power down time and given the opportunity to delay it.

According to company reduction in carbon footprint and power cost will be achieved by developing ‘Power Profiles’ for every PC in the company.

Sponsorships

Ford sponsors numerous events and sports facilities around the US, most notably the Ford Center in downtown Evansville, Indiana, and Ford Field in downtown Detroit.

Ford has also been a major sponsor of the UEFA Champions League for over two decades and is also a longtime sponsor of the Sky media channel’s coverage of Premier League football. Senior Ford marketer Mark Jones explained in May 2013 the process behind the two sponsorship deals:

We start with a blank piece of paper and work out if the sponsorship still works for us and ask does it meet our objectives? We want to find a moment in time when people come together and have a collective experience and we achieve this through the sponsorships.

Sales numbers

Calendar Year	US sales
1999	4,163,369
2000	4,202,820
2001	3,971,364
2002	3,623,709
2003	3,483,719
2004	3,331,676
2005	3,153,875
2006	2,901,090
2007	2,507,366
2008	1,988,376
2009	1,620,888
2010	1,935,462
2011	2,143,101
2012	2,250,165
2013	2,493,918
2014	2,480,942

See also

	Metro Detroit portal
	Companies portal

• Detroit Automobile Company
• Firestone and Ford tire controversy
• The Henry Ford
• Smith Electric Vehicles
• Eugene Turenne Gregorie
• Soybean Car
• Dodge v. Ford Motor Company