Introduction to major automobile companies
Ford Motor Company is one of the largest automobile companies in the world. Founded in 1903 by Mr. Henry Ford. In 1908, Ford Motor Company produced the world's first car for ordinary people, the Model T, and the world's automotive industrial revolution began. In 1913, Ford Motor Company developed the world's first assembly line. This initiative brought the number of Model T cars to 15 million units in one go, setting a world record that has not yet been broken. For this reason, Mr. Ford was revered as the man who "put the world on wheels." In 1999, Fortune magazine named him a "Business Giant of the 21st Century" in recognition of his and Ford Motor Company's outstanding contributions to the development of human industry. There is only one secret to Mr. Henry Ford's success: trying his best to understand people's inner needs, using the best materials and the best employees to create good cars for the public that everyone can afford.
Today Ford is still a world-class automobile company, still adhering to the corporate philosophy pioneered by Mr. Henry Ford: consumers are at the center of our work. We must always think about our consumers in our work and provide better products and services than our competitors. Because of this, in 2000, Ford's 360,000 employees around the world and Ford manufacturing and assembly companies in more than 30 countries jointly created a total operating income of US$170 billion, exporting products to six continents. , selling 7.4 million cars, trucks and commercial vehicles of various types in more than 200 countries. Ford's logo uses the English word "Ford" with white letters on a blue background. Because founder Henry Ford liked small animals, the logo designer painted Ford's English name into a pattern that looked like a little white rabbit.
The car brands owned by Ford Motor Company include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Aston Martin, Jaguar and Mazda. , Volvo and Land Rover
Fiat Automobile Company was founded in Turin, Italy in July 1899. The founder was Giovanni Agnelli. It is the world's first automobile manufacturer to produce minicars. The full name of this company is Turin Automobile Factory, Italy. Fiat (FIAT) is the transliteration of the company's abbreviation, and FIAT is also the trademark of the company's products.
The Fiat Group is headquartered in Turin, Italy. The current chairman is the eldest grandson of the founder, and his namesake is also named Giovanni Agnelli. The Automotive Division employs approximately 270,000 people and has subsidiaries and sales organizations in more than 100 countries. Its car division mainly includes companies such as Fiat, Ferrari, Alfa and Lancia. Construction vehicle companies include Iveco. Fiat Automobile Group is Italy's largest comprehensive industrial and commercial financial enterprise group. It is the automobile group with the most involvement in other fields among all automobile companies. In Italy, it almost monopolizes many technical production fields such as automobiles, tractors, construction machinery, aircraft manufacturing, bioengineering and civil engineering, energy engineering, etc., and has opened many branches around the world.
The logo of Fiat has changed several times. It was originally a shield shape and has been used since the founding of the Italian Automobile Company in 1899. The Turin Automobile Factory in Italy was established in 1906. The logo adopts the first letter F.I.A.T. of the four Italian words in the factory name. This is the origin of Fiat. In 1918, the company decided to cancel the punctuation in the letters, which was written as Fiat or FIAT. In 1921, the round FIAT trademark appeared, and in 1931, the rectangular trademark F IAT began to be used. In order to unify the fonts on the front of the car, Fiat's front logo now uses the current rectangular trademark.
BMW is a world-famous automobile company and is also considered the leader in the high-end automobile production industry. BMW was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Munich.
Over the past 80 years, it has developed from an original aircraft engine production plant to today's enterprise group that mainly produces high-end cars and produces world-renowned aircraft engines, off-road vehicles and motorcycles, ranking among the top 20 automobile companies in the world. BMW is also translated as "Bail". The full name of BMW is "Bayerische Motoren Werhe AG", and BMW is the abbreviation of these three words.
The blue and white pattern in the middle of the BMW logo represents the blue sky, white clouds and the constantly rotating propeller, symbolizing the company's long history and symbolizing the company's past leadership in aerospace engine technology. It also symbolizes the company's consistent purpose and goal: to satisfy customers' greatest wishes with advanced and exquisite technology and the latest concepts in a vast space and time, reflecting the company's vigorous momentum and ever-changing new look
BMW As an important member of the international automobile market, it is quite active, with its business covering 120 countries around the world. In 1997, 1.2 million vehicles of various types were produced. BMW cars mainly include 3, 5, 7, 8, Z series cars and two-seater hooded sports cars. Currently, BMW is in a prosperous period: Opel and Ford Motor Company purchase its 6-cylinder diesel engines; Rolls-Royce Group not only uses its 12-cylinder engines and electronic equipment, but also jointly researches and produces new aero engines. ; In 1994, the BMW Group acquired the British Land Rover Automobile Company (RoverGroup); in 1998, the BMW Group acquired the Rolls-Royce automobile brand; BMW's new factory in South Carolina, USA, was also completed and put into production. The first foreign high-end automobile production plant.
BMW has always been known for its emphasis on technological innovation and continues to set new standards for high-performance premium cars. At the same time, BMW attaches great importance to safety and environmental issues. BMW's research in "active safety performance" and "passive safety performance" and its FIRST (Integral Road Safety System) have earned the company a reputation.
BMW is committed to promoting the development of high-tech applications in China's automobile industry. In April 1994, BMW established a representative office in Beijing.
The Lamborghini company was founded in 1962, named after its founder Lamborghini, and became famous for its production of V12 engines. In the 1970s, the famous Bertone Design Company designed a sports car with a unique shape. The body was only 1m high, the doors were gull-wing style, and the hood and front windshield formed an overall smooth slope, giving people a strong sense of dynamics. This kind of body is used by Lamborghini's Countache and Di Apollo, both of which are known as the fastest sports cars in the world, with speeds of up to 315km/h and 330km/h.
The company's logo is a head full of strength, ready to launch a fierce attack on the opponent. It is said that Lamborghini himself has this kind of bullish temperament that is not to be outdone, and it also reflects the characteristics of Lamborghini's products, because the cars produced by the company are all high-power, high-speed sports sedans. The company name is omitted from the trademarks on the front and rear of the car, leaving only a stubborn cow.
Volkswagen, one of the world's top ten automobile companies, was founded in 1938 in Walsburg, Germany. The founder is the world-famous automobile design master Porsche. Volkswagen plays a major role in automobile products and is a cross-car automobile group with automobile activities in many countries around the world. Volkswagen, as its name suggests, produces cars for the masses. On January 17, 1934, Porsche submitted a proposal to the German government to design and produce cars for Volkswagen. Subsequently, the proposal was approved, and later Porsche established a Volkswagen AG with 340,000 shareholders, with an annual output of 1 million vehicles.
In the "Volkswagen City" in Fort Worth, the first batch of "Beetles" came out, but only 630 units were produced before production was discontinued due to World War II. After World War II, Volkswagen was placed under the West German government, and automobile production gradually resumed. Due to the low price of the "Beetle", this car quickly became popular in Germany and Europe. In 1955, the "Beetle" was exported to more than 100 countries. When the "Beetle" was discontinued in 1981, a total of 20 million units had been produced, breaking the Ford Model T. world record.
With the sales of the "Beetle",
Volkswagen has also grown into a powerful world automobile production group. It has established automobile production plants and sales companies in Spain, Mexico and many other countries.
Following the "Beetle", Volkswagen achieved mass production of four-wheel continuous drive water buses in 1980 and launched the world's best-selling golf car in the 1980s, thus becoming the largest car manufacturer in Europe.
Volkswagen's headquarters was moved to Berlin and is still in Voorburg. The current chairman is Dr. Carl Hann and it currently employs 265,000 people. There are 13 production subsidiaries around the world, 7 sales companies overseas, and 23 other companies. The domestic subsidiaries are mainly Volkswagen and Audi, and the foreign subsidiaries include Spain, Mexico, Skoda, Santana, Passat, Corrado, Audi, Audi Cobe, etc. The entire automobile group's production and sales capacity is around 3 million vehicles.
On May 28, 1937, Ferdinand Porsche founded Volkswagen Development Company with the support of Mercedes-Benz. In September of the same year, it was changed to Volkswagen AG. Volkswagen is Germany's largest and youngest automobile company. It is an international group company headquartered in Wolsburg.
Volkswagenwerk in German means a car used by the public. The VW in the logo is the first letter of the full name. The logo is composed of three "V"s made with the middle and index fingers, which means that Volkswagen and its products must win - win - win.
Volvo Car Company is the largest automobile company in Northern Europe, the largest industrial enterprise group in Sweden, and one of the 20 largest automobile companies in the world. It was founded in 1924 by Gustav Larsson and Asael Gabrielsson.
Volvo Cars enjoys a high reputation in Northern Europe for its excellent quality and performance. Especially in terms of safety systems, Volvo Cars is even more unique. The American Highway Loss Information Institute once ranked the ten safest cars, and Volvo topped the list. By 1937, the company's annual automobile output had reached 10,000 vehicles. Subsequently, its business gradually developed into various fields such as means of production and daily necessities, materials and energy products, and it became the largest company in Northern Europe.
Volvo Car Company has subsidiaries such as Commercial Vehicle Department, Truck Department, Bus Department, Parts Department, Automobile Sales Department and Passenger Car Subsidiary. Volvo's products are all-encompassing, but its main product is still cars. The company's Kalmar plant is unique in the world. It is located in Gothenburg, Sweden. The layout is like a clover pattern. There are 25 workstations along the edge of the clover. Each station is responsible for a part of the car assembly process. The car snakes around the grass blades on an automatic conveyor controlled by a microcomputer. When these 25 workstations are completed, a beautiful car is produced. The plant's productivity and assembly quality are among the best among Volvo's plants. The characteristic of this factory is that 10-25 people are responsible for one work area. As long as the specified cars are sent from one buffer zone to another within the specified time, everyone can do other work themselves. This frees workers from mechanical reciprocating labor and stimulates workers' enthusiasm for work. This production method is another major change after Ford's assembly line production method, which has attracted great attention from the world's industry.
In addition to the absolute dominance of Volvo buses and various trucks in Northern Europe, its small buses are also famous in the world. Volvo passenger cars are famous for their simple styling and luxurious and comfortable interiors. The recently launched Volvo 740, 760, 940 and 960 cars have been exported to more than 100 countries and regions.
"Volvo" means "rolling forward" in Latin. Since its founding, the company has begun to "roll forward" towards the blueprint jointly designed by the two founders. ".
General Motors is the world's largest automobile company, with an annual industrial output value of more than 100 billion US dollars. Its logo GM is taken from the first letters of the first two words of its English name (General Motro Corporation).
It was developed by William Durant on the basis of Buick Motor Company in September 1908 and was founded in Detroit, the automobile city of the United States. The current headquarters remains in Detroit.
General Motors ranks first among the 500 largest companies in the United States and second among the world's largest industrial companies. It employs 800,000 people in the United States and around the world, distributed in 40 countries and regions around the world. The GM family's total annual automobile production reaches 9 million vehicles.
General Motors is one of the earliest large-scale enterprises in the United States to implement joint-stock systems and expert group management. The cars produced by General Motors typically display the characteristics of American cars such as luxury, spaciousness, comfortable interior, fast speed, and large reserve power. And General Motors pays special attention to quality and the adoption of new technologies. Therefore, General Motors' products have always enjoyed a high reputation in the minds of users.
General Motors has formed partnerships with Fiat, Suzuki, Isuzu and Fuji Heavy Industries.
Chrysler Motor Company is the third largest automobile industry company in the United States. It was founded in 1925 by Walter Chrysler. The company has subsidiaries in many countries around the world and is a multinational automotive company. The company is headquartered in Detroit, USA.
In 1924, Walter Chrysler left General Motors to join the Williams Overland Company and began producing Chrysler brand cars. In 1925, he bought the bankrupt Maxwell Company and formed his own company. With his own technology and financial resources, he successively bought Dodge, Brigg and Plymouth companies, and gradually developed into the third largest automobile company in the United States.
With the expansion of its operations, Chrysler began to expand overseas, building factories in Australia, France, the United Kingdom, and Brazil, acquiring equity interests in local automobile companies, and purchasing Maserati and Lamborghini in Italy. , thus making the company a multinational automobile company. In its golden period in the 1930s, it once surpassed Ford. In the 1970s, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor management, and the famous entrepreneur Lee Iacocca took over the company. After taking office, Jacocca boldly hired new people, laid off employees, sought government funding, and devoted his main energy to market research and product development, and surprisingly succeeded in product advertising. In the early 1980s, Chrysler miraculously survived again and continued to rank among the top five automobile companies in the world.
In the 1990s, due to the attacks of Japanese automobile companies, Chrysler was once again in trouble. It fell again and again in the ranking of automobile companies, even falling below Nissan's American branch (U.S. market). Chrysler Automobile Company has Dodge, Shunfeng, Chrysler sedan departments as well as Dodge trucks and parts departments. Current new automobile products include "Xingdao" light truck, "Sundance" car, "Ghost", "Dodge 600", "Tailwind Clipper" and other automobile products.
At the 6th Beijing International Automobile Industry Exhibition, DaimlerChrysler will exhibit the new Mercedes-Benz C-class car, which will debut in China in May this year. This car is a comprehensively innovative new model. Just launched in Europe. At the same time, various S, E, and M-class Mercedes-Benz models were carefully selected to meet the Chinese audience. In addition, a rail-type CDI engine will also be exhibited.