Ford Motor Argentina


Ford Motor Argentina is a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company and was founded in Buenos Aires in 1913.
Its first products were Model Ts assembled from complete knock down kits provided by Ford Motor Company in 1917. Nevertheless, Ford Motor Argentina is best known in more recent times for producing the Ford Focus and, previously, the Argentine version of the Ford Falcon, originally a U.S. model introduced in Argentina in 1961, but adapted to the Argentine market.

History

In 1913, Ford entered the Argentine market, and in 1917, Buenos Aires became home to the first assembly operation of Ford products in Latin America, in 1922 a stamping and assembly factory was inaugurated in La Boca. At that time the products were marketed through a net composed of 285 dealers. The administrative staff and the personnel of paid workers came to 400. Later, and due to the rising demand the plant was enlarged, coming its staff to 1,500 people.
In 1939, with the Second World War outbreak, the importation of vehicles and components is closed. The production was restricted to finishing the units with the available material, but the increasing lack of basic supplies for the production forced to stop the activity. During this time, Ford manufactured batteries and it attended its clients with the sale of spare parts and car accessories made in local repair shops. Later, this would give rise to the beginning of the Argentinean auto part industry.
In 1957 Ford Motor Argentina activities restarted in its La Boca facilities with the first commercial vehicles of the "F" line pick ups produced. This manufacturing plant originally opened in 1925 for the production of the Ford Model T. In 1962 the "F" line pick ups began to be produced at the Pacheco Assembly Plant. The former Ford Motor Argentina S.A. was incorporated in 1959.
In 1987, Autolatina Argentina was formed by the merger of Ford Motor Argentina and Volkswagen Argentina. Each brand maintained their own corporate image, the marketing and sales structures, as well as independent dealerships and service shops. All other departments were consolidated, allowing significant cost cutting, but also cutting the workforce almost in half. Sales figures and profitability were disappointing and the joint venture was dissolved in 1994, and on 1 January 1995, Ford Argentina S.A. was reestablished. Under the Autolatina separation plans, Ford became sole owner of the Pacheco plant, which was modified to incorporate the production of the Escort car and Ranger pick-ups.
In December 1996, all Ford Argentina plants and the Customer Assistance Division obtained ISO 9002 certification and in April 1999, Pacheco Assembly Plant obtained ISO 14001 certification.
In August 2000 the production of the Ford Focus started in Pacheco Plant, and the Focus was honored as the "Car of the Year" in Argentina by two different councils of journalists.
In 2000, Ford held 14.9% of the market share, ranking second in the market. Market participation was 13.4% in cars and 18.9% in trucks; where Ford maintains leadership, production volume was 56.300 units. Ford ranked first among automotive manufacturers regarding exports.
In 2007, Ford has 12.8% market share, ranking third after Peugeot-Citroën and General Motors with a production volume of over 64.000 units.
In 2018, two former executives were convicted over kidnapping and torture of company workers during the Argentinian dictatorship in 1976–1983. The men were sentenced to 10 and 12 years.

General Corporate Timeline

Passenger cars

  1. Ford Ka
  2. Ford Fiesta One
  3. Ford Fiesta Max One
  4. Ford Kinetic
  5. Ford Kinetic 4P
  6. Ford Focus
  7. Ford Mondeo
  8. Ford S-Max
  9. Ford Nueva EcoSport
  10. Ford Kuga
  11. Ford Mustang

    Current commercial vehicles

  12. Ford Nueva Ranger
  13. Ford Transit Furgon
  14. Ford Transit Minibus
  15. Ford C195E
  16. Ford C1517
  17. Ford C1722
  18. Ford C1932
  19. Ford C2632

    Ford in South America

In South America, Ford's primary operations are in Brazil, Argentina and Ford Andina. Ford employs over 18,000 people and operates seven assembly or other plants in the region.