NASCAR
Ford is one of four manufacturers in NASCAR's three major series: Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, and Camping World Truck Series. Major teams include Roush Fenway Racing and Yates Racing. Ford is represented by the mid-size Fusion in the Sprint Cup and 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 andMercury Montegos, and the aero-era Ford Thunderbirds. The Ford nameplate has won eight manufacturer's championships in Sprint Cup, while Mercury has won one.
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 asTeam 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).[69]
Rally
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.[70] 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 openerMonte Carlo Rally.[71]
Sports cars
Ford sports cars have always been visible in the world of endurance racing. Most notably the GT40 won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans four times in the 1960s and still stands today as one of the all-time greatest racing cars. The GT40 is the only American car to ever win overall at Le Mans. In 2007 Swiss Matech Racing in collaboration with Ford Racing is opened a new chapter in the annals of the Ford GT. A winning chapter Ford GT Matech team won win title in the European FIA GT3 Championship 2008.
The Ford Mustang has arguably been Ford's most successful sports car. The Mustang won the SCCA Pro B National Championship in 1965 at the hands of Jerry Titus who went on to win the SCCA Trans-Am Championship in another Mustang two year later in 1967. Ford won the Trans-Am Championship again in 1970 with Parnelli Jonesand George Folmer driving Boss 302s for Bud Moore Engineering. Ford took the 1985 and 1986 IMSA GTO Chmapionship with Mustangs driven by John Jones and Scott Pruett before returning to Trans-Am glory with a chamiponship in 1989 with Dorsey Schrader. Ford dominated Trans-Am in the 1990s with Tommy Kendal winning championships in 1993, 1995, 1996, and 1997 with Paul Gentilozi 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 championship in the GT4 European Championship. In 2008 Ford added FR500GT at Ford GT a championship in the FIA GT3 European Championship. 2008 is the first year of the Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup a new series which pits a full field of identical factory built Ford Mustang race cars against each other. Also in 2008 Ford won both the drivers and manufacturers championship in the Koni Challenge Series with Joe Foster and Steve Maxwell driving HyperSport.
Touring cars
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, the Mondeo finished 1,2,3 in the British Touring Car Championship in 2000, and the Falcon finished 1,2,3 in the Australian V8 SupercarSeries in 2005.
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 has piloted his Drag Ford Mustang to several NHRA funny-car titles in recent seasons. 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.
Ford trucks
Ford has produced trucks since 1908. Countries where Ford commercial vehicles are or were made include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada (badged Mercury too), France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Philippines, Spain (badged Ebro too), Turkey, UK (badged also Fordson and Thames) and USA.
Most of all these ventures are now extinct. The European one that lasted longer was the lorries arm of Ford of Britain, that was eventually sold to Iveco group in 1986, and whose last significant models were theTranscontinental and the Cargo.
In the USA, Ford's heavy trucks division (Classes 7 and 8) was sold in 1997 to Freightliner Trucks, now part of Daimler AG, which rebranded it as Sterling and augmented the lineup with rebranded trucks from Freightliner and Dodge; the division is currently shutting down operations.[72] Ford continues building medium class trucks with the F-650 and F-750 Ford F-Series and recently introduced the LCF series similar in design to the Ford Cargo trucks of the past.
Bus products
Ford has manufactured buses in the company's early history, but today, Ford's role has changed to that of a 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, but Ford lost its market share due to industry contraction and agreements between body manufacturers.
Ford tractors
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 inLeningrad 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.
Sales
| Calendar Year | American sales |
|---|---|
| 1999[73] | 4,163,369 |
| 2000 | 4,202,820 |
| 2001 | 3,971,364 |
| 2002[74] | 3,623,709 |
| 2003 | 3,483,719 |
| 2004[75] | 3,331,676 |
| 2005 | 3,153,875 |
| 2006[76] | 2,901,090 |
| 2007 | 2,507,366 |
| 2008[77] | 1,988,376 |
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