Ford brands

Ford timeline

1. 1903

   Henry Ford and other stockholders signed the papers that created Ford Motor Company in Detroit.

2. 1919

   The present Ford Motor Company was incorporated in Delaware and took over the 1903 Michigan company's business.

3. 1922

   Ford bought the Lincoln Motor Company from Henry Leland for $8 million.

4. 1938

   Edsel Ford and Ford's sales manager launched Mercury as a new brand above Ford.

5. 1945

   Mercury was combined with Lincoln into the Lincoln-Mercury Division.

6. 1979

   Ford began its holding in Mazda.

7. 1986

   Began buying Kia shares, became its largest shareholder.

8. 1987

   Ford bought 75% of Aston Martin.

9. 1989

   Ford bought Jaguar Cars for about $2.5 billion.

10. 1994

    Ford took Aston Martin to 100%.

11. 1996

    Ford raised its Mazda stake from 24.5% to 33.4%.

12. 1998

    Sold its 9.4% Kia stake after Hyundai took over Kia.

13. 1999

    Ford bought AB Volvo's passenger car business for about $6.45 billion.

14. 2000

    Ford bought Land Rover from the BMW Group for about $2.6 billion.

15. 2006

    Ford reported Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin together as its Premier Automotive Group segment.

16. 2007

    Ford sold Aston Martin to a consortium led by David Richards, keeping a GBP 40 million investment.

17. 2008

    Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors.

18. 2008

    Ford sold part of its Mazda stake, cutting it from about 33.4% to 13.78% and later about 11%.

19. 2010

    Ford sold Volvo Car Corporation to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group.

20. 2010

    Ford cut its Mazda stake further to about 3.5%.

21. 2010

    Ford discontinued the Mercury brand; the last car was built on 4 January 2011.

22. 2015

    Ford disposed of its last 2.1% of Mazda.