Ford Tractor
Today, when we hear last names as the names of companies, we seldom remember the person who started the company and gave it his name. In this sense, companies greatly outlived their founders.
Henry Ford, like Walt Disney, is one of the few people who is as famous as the company that carries his name. While he’s not the one who invented the car, like some people mistakenly believe, he’s the one who came up with the idea of the assembly line, a concept so innovative and revolutionary that it changed the way production was made, not only in cars, but in pretty much every other industry. He also had a vision that made his company a success that lasts almost 100 years. The base of this vision was a car that was made with the best materials available at that time, big enough for an average family, yet comfortable enough for one person to use it to go to work. In addition, the price for each car was low enough that any person with a good salary could buy one in a reasonable amount of time. While this meant that the profit by car was much smaller, the total profit made by big sales made up for it and paid off in the end. Henry Ford had yet a third stroke of genius, he paid his employees a salary good enough for them to afford a Ford car themselves, thus making every employee a potential customer. This vision materialized in the T model.
What most people don’t know, is that Ford also participated in the tractor industry. The first Ford tractor was produced in 1916, under the Fordson brand. Among other achievements, the Ford tractor was the first mass produced and commercially distributed tractor in the world. Despite the flaws of the first models, the Ford tractor was a commercial success. Like other machines of its era, the early Ford tractor tended to overheat and fall over when the plough it pulled encountered an obstacle. Nevertheless, the competition wasn’t any better and the Ford tractor covered 70 % of the market. The Ford tractor was so popular that it was sold in Canada and the United Kingdom, since demand justified the export process.
The Ford tractor used a 20 horsepower engine and sold for $750 dollars. Considering the value of the dollar back then, this was quite an investment, and it speaks of the popularity of the Ford tractor which still sold plenty of units at that price.
The Ford tractor remained an important part of the Ford Motor company until the facilities and design were sold to Fiat in 1991. Fiat renamed it New Holland and sold it under that name.