Ford of Europe

Ford of Europe GmbH is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company founded in 1967 in Cork, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany.

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

One of the key justifications for keeping separate divisions was to circumvent the high trade tariffs imposed on vehicles being exported between Britain and the European Economic Community, however once the UK joined the bloc in 1973, it made sense to standardise the model ranges throughout Britain and Continental Europe. 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 (the Fiesta for example was simultaneously assembled at Dagenham, Valencia and Cologne), 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.

The first new model launched after the creation of Ford of Europe was the Escort, built in England from October 1967 and launched to market at the beginning of 1968. The Escort was a rear-wheel drive small family saloon that took the place of the British Anglia range and was built in both Britain and from 1970, Germany, although it was sold there from the outset. It was first available as a two-door saloon and later in estate, van and four-door saloon bodystyles. Power came from 950 CC, 1100 CC, and 1300 CC petrol engines. Later there was also a 2000 cc unit which came in the RS2000 performance version and was capable of 110 mph (180 km/h). It quickly became popular with buyers, outselling key UK competitors from BMC (later British Leyland), Vauxhall (Opel in Germany) and the Rootes Group. The Escort would never achieve such dominance in Europe's largest auto market, but nevertheless took significant market share from the Opel and Volkswagen competitors of the time.

Ford Europe's second new car launch was the Capri sporting coupé at the beginning of 1969. Loosely based on Ford UK's rear-wheel drive Mk II Cortina saloon platform, it came with engines ranging from 1300 cc to 3000 cc and was made in Britain and Germany (with a different range of German V4 and V6 engines) and was an instant success, frequently featuring as one of Britain's top 10 best-selling cars and also doing well in most other European markets.

August 1970 saw the launch of the British Ford Cortina Mk III and its German cousin, the Taunus (replacing the Taunus 12M and 15M). The British and German models were based on the same platform, but had different sheet metal and used engines from their home countries, though both models could be had with the new German-built 2000cc OHC petrol engine. By 1972, the Cortina was the best-selling car in Britain and would stay at the top spot until 1981, except for 1976 when the smaller Escort was Britain's top-selling car for that year.

In March 1972, Ford Europe replaced their executive models from Britain (Zephyr/Zodiac) and Germany (17M/20M/26M) with the Consul and Granada (large saloon, estate and coupé) which was aimed directly at the Opel Rekord, Rover P6, Audi 100 and Triumph 2000. It quickly outsold its rivals in many countries and in 1973 was the tenth best-selling car in Britain. Like the Capri and Cortina/Taunus models, the early Consuls and Granadas were built in both Britain and Germany, each with a unique range of national engines.

In the early 1970s, Ford took the decision to enter the growing European supermini market and began to develop a competitor for the well-received new Fiat 127 and Renault 5. A site near Valencia, Spain, was chosen to build a new factory in order to accommodate production for the new car which was scheduled for a mid-1970s launch.