Claim: Ford Motor Company is a manufacturer.

The Ford Motor Company -LRB- commonly referred to simply as `` Ford '' -RRB- is an American multinational automaker headquartered in Dearborn , Michigan , a suburb of Detroit . It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16 , 1903 . The company sells automobiles and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and most luxury cars under the Lincoln brand . Ford also owns Brazilian SUV manufacturer , Troller , and Australian performance car manufacturer FPV . In the past , it has also produced tractors and automotive components . Ford owns an 8 % stake in Aston Martin of the United Kingdom , and a 49 % stake in Jiangling of China . It also has a number of joint-ventures , one in China -LRB- Changan Ford -RRB- , one in Taiwan -LRB- Ford Lio Ho -RRB- , one in Thailand -LRB- AutoAlliance Thailand -RRB- , one in Turkey -LRB- Ford Otosan -RRB- , and one in Russia -LRB- Ford Sollers -RRB- . It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is controlled by the Ford family , although they have minority ownership -LRB- but majority of the voting power -RRB- .   Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines ; by 1914 , these methods were known around the world as Fordism . Ford 's former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover , acquired in 1989 and 2000 respectively , were sold to Tata Motors in March 2008 . Ford owned the Swedish automaker Volvo from 1999 to 2010 . In 2011 , Ford discontinued the Mercury brand , under which it had marketed entry-level luxury cars in the United States , Canada , Mexico , and the Middle East since 1938 .   During the financial crisis at the beginning of the 21st century , it was close to bankruptcy , but it has since returned to profitability .   Ford is the second-largest U.S.-based automaker -LRB- preceded by General Motors -RRB- and the fifth-largest in the world -LRB- behind Toyota , VW , Hyundai-Kia and General Motors -RRB- based on 2015 vehicle production . At the end of 2010 , Ford was the fifth largest automaker in Europe . Ford is the eighth-ranked overall American-based company in the 2010 Fortune 500 list , based on global revenues in 2009 of $ 118.3 billion . In 2008 , Ford produced 5.532 million automobiles and employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants and facilities worldwide .   The company went public in 1956 but the Ford family , through special Class B shares , still retain 40 percent voting rights .