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Ford Of Europe Has Introduced New Divisions

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Ford Of Europe GmbH is an automotive company based out of 1Henry-Ford-Straße, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company, founded in 1967, in Cork, Ireland. 

The company was initially founded in 1967 by the merger of Ford of Britain, Ford of Germany, and Irish Henry Ford and Sons Ltd divisions of the Ford Motor Company. The front-engined Ford Transit range of panel vans launched in 1965 was the first formal cooperation between the two entities, simultaneously developed to replace the German Ford Taunus Transit and the British Ford Thames 400E. 

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Prior to this, the two companies avoided marketing their vehicles in one another’s domestic markets, and in much of the rest of western Europe were direct competitors, with totally separate product lines, despite being owned by the same American parent, in a similar manner to General Motors’ Opel and Vauxhall subsidiaries at the same time, indeed GM followed Ford’s precedent in the 1970s by merging the operations of Opel and Vauxhall into General Motors Europe. 

The process took several years to complete, as new model ranges arrived and the older model ranges were gradually phased out. Crucially merging the two companies’ operations and having a common product range would allow Ford to double source cars and components from either British or Continental plants, something which was especially important due to the fraught industrial relations problems which plagued the British motor industry in the 1970s; and would prove crucial in Ford’s ascendancy in the UK market and overtaking the troubled British Leyland.

Ford’s attempt to expand their business

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The Ford Mustang lost its sales crown in the United States last year but is still enjoying strong demand in Europe. The automaker wants to keep the momentum going and is introducing another addition to the pony car’s lineup on the Old continent. Ford of Europe will cease to exist as a separate division within the brand after 55 years. Ford announced this in a call with analysts. With the reorganization of the car manufacturer, the new divisions, Ford Blue and Model e, take the lead. 

This means that the European headquarters of Ford in Cologne will be assigned a different role. In total, Ford will consist of five divisions: Model e, Ford Blue, Ford Pro, Ford Drive, and Ford Credit. These five divisions will become leading in the corporate structure, with Ford thus dropping the regional division.

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This gives the current Ford of Europe a new role within the car manufacturer. It is not yet entirely clear what the consequences will be. According to reports, Ford of Europe in Cologne will soon come mainly under the new Model e division, with which Ford of Europe as an organizational unit within Ford would cease to exist. 

The departure of Stuart Rowley, former director of Ford of Europe, also points to this. Rowley has now been appointed chief transformation and quality officer for the world. Ford’s current commercial vehicle development center in Dunton, England, will then come under the Ford Pro commercial vehicle division.

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