Ford Motor company was founded by Henry Ford in 1903, and since then has been one of the top
automotive companies that manufacture commercial and luxury vehicles. With two brands Ford (for
commercial vehicles) and Lincoln (for luxury vehicles), they expect to continue to be a top automotive
company. This SWOT analysis is to assess the company’s internal and external strategic environment.
Ford strengths are brand value, worldwide presence, strong US market share, focuses on R&D, and wide
production range. With Ford’s global dealership network, futuristic innovations, and loyal customer
followings makes the brand value $11.21 billion (as of 2019) setting the Ford brand one of the most
valuable in any industry. To create this strong brand Ford has manufacturing presence in 62 countries
and vastly growing which strengthens sales. In the US only Ford has over 18000 dealerships and is also
growing. Ford is still most profitable in the US generating over $160 billion in revenue in 2019, and
providing a 14.4% share of the total automobile sales. To stay one top, they have one of the biggest
research centers in Silicon Valley. This houses over 300 researchers, engineers, designers and scientists
to explore new frontiers in automobile technology. Also, to target all types of customers Ford has a wide
variety of vehicle categories (SUV’s, truck, and more).
Fords weakness are weaker reputation, US dependency, frequent product recalls, lack of foothold in
emerging markets. Ford has a weaker reputation compared to there competitors, especially the luxury
brand Lincoln. Ford’s largest shares of sales come from the U.S alone this limits the market share and
the profitability of the brand. I think the reason for having a weaker reputation is that the products have
been recalled. In 2019 the company had to recall over 1.5 million vehicles on a faulty gear shift and
related safety concerns. This loses the credit of Ford worldwide, which deters countries who have a high
demand for vehicles.
Ford’s opportunities are Scope for global expansion, autonomous driving technology, focus on
environment friendly vehicles, and strategic partnership. Given the demand of vehicles in other
countries, Ford can utilize this and have the opportunity to sell more vehicles. Like Tesla and
Volkswagen, Ford is trying to develop a driverless car. Ford intends to have fully autonomous vehicles
road ready by 2021. Also, not only driverless cars, they are trying to make even better energy-efficient