RIS - Tour Operator

The beginning
Ford Italia started its activities in 1923 in Trieste. At the time the city’s port was the primary gateway for trade with Balkan countries and the Middle East, markets that were supplied from the Italian headquarters. Ford Italia started out by selling the famous Fordson tractors and the Model A, Ford’s first car to be sold in Italy.

A difficult start
Ford’s activities in Italy were limited not only by the modest size of the Italian market of the time – barely 10,000 cars registered annually (just three-hundredth of sales in the USA in the first part of the twenties) – but also by other economical and political factors. In fact after nipping the production of the Model T in the bud, Ford Italia limited its activities for a while to simply assembling the Fordson tractor, to be sold not only in Italy but also in Eastern European markets and in Middle East countries.

First steps
At the same time Ford Italia imported and distributed directly from the USA small quantities of Model T cars, selling them at an attractive prize, despite the heavy customs duty, for the time: just 19,800 lira, just over 13,000 Euros in today’s currency. A decidedly competitive price list for 1925, when Fiat launched the small 505 with only 900cc – the Model T’s engine was three times more powerful – which sold for 18,500 liras.

The new headquarters
In order to attempt the difficult expansion in the Italian market – one of the most difficult to break at the time for a foreign manufacturer – Ford purchased a large piece of land, over five hectares, close to the port of Livorno with two objectives. On the one hand to collect and distribute from the Tuscan port, the cars and tractors destined for the Southern European and North African markets and, on the other, to ask the Italian government for a permit to create an assembly plant for the production in situ of those vehicles that would subsequently be exported. But the permit was never granted.

New plants for the new Ford A
In order to bypass the strict restrictions of the Italian market, Henry Ford decided to buy a majority share of the prestigious, but close to bankruptcy, Isotta Fraschini. The Milan based company produced one of the most luxurious eight-cylinder flagship models in the world at the time, as well as some of the best aeronautical engines of the twenties and thirties. Here too there was a two-fold objective: saving a prestigious company by providing it with new and important opportunities and expanding Isotta’s Milanese plants in order to install an assembly line for the new Ford A. Despite the heavy economic crisis which followed the Wall Street crash of 1929, the new Model A was successful, especially in European markets, and Henry Ford didn’t want to abandon the possibility of consolidating his position on Southern European markets.

Blocked by the "Gazzera Law"
But the Italian government of the time nipped the operation in the bud by passing the so called “Gazzera law”, which in reference to the car industry stated that: “No new plants or expansions of existing plants are permitted without prior approval from the War Ministry”. Ford Italia was never granted approval.

The war years
After a brief period in Genoa in 1931, Ford Italia moved its headquarters to the new, modern offices in Bologna. It remained active there until 1944, when violent bombing razed the premises to the ground, halting all activities.

The post war period
After the end of the Second World War activities resumed until 1948, when the European and Italian markets started being supplied by the English headquarters, which had in the meantime started producing and selling the Major tractor, one of the most successful Ford models. In Italy, after all, at the beginning of the fifties the imported car market was practically nonexistent: just 124 vehicles in 1950 and 660 in 1951, of a total market that barely reached one hundred thousand units.

The development
The new Ford Anglia, launched in Italy towards the end of 1959 with an extensive media campaign featuring Ford Italia’s president Filmer M. Paradise in first person, finally broke the ‘wall’ that prevented foreign cars from staking a claim of the Italian market. Foreign cars jumped from 9636 units in 1959 (3.8% of the market), to 18,815 units in 1960 (4.86% of the market) and 33,815 units (6.88%) in the following year. The new Anglia became the best selling foreign car in Italy at the time.

The Roman headquarters
In 1959 Ford Italia transferred its offices to Rome, in Via Appia Nuova and, after a few years, to the new modern Eur quarter, close to the Fiumicino airport. The aim was to improve its logistical position and be closer to the Advanced Training Centre located in Pomezia on the Roman coast.

The boom years
This period was followed by the success, in 1962, of the Cortina and the Taunus 12M – the first front-wheel drive Ford – which, with their original and innovative design, opened the road, in 1968, for the car that marked the turning point for the Detroit car maker’s fortunes in the Italian and European markets: the Ford Escort. A veritable triumph and a synthesis of British and German models, a small car with classic and clean lines that marked a period.

The years of consolidation
1969 saw the launch of another model destined to consolidate Ford’s image in Italy: the ford Capri, a versatile car inspired by the notorious American Ford Mustang. In 1976 Ford definitively confirmed its strong presence in Italy with the launch of the Fiesta. This small car, with its highly original design, increased the number of potential clients by conquering younger car buyers.

A brilliant growth
The implementation of a strategy focused on product innovation lead to the first “world car” in 1980: the new Escort, which was also awarded the “Car of the Year” award. A brilliant growth for Ford in Italy, marked by surprising sales results for the subsequent versions of the Escort (for years now the biggest selling foreign car in Italy), and by veritable booms for the models which have been launched in recent years.

The Kinetic Design philosophy
2006 marked the start of a new era for Ford, with the introduction of the new "Kinetic Design" philosophy, starting with the S-Max (car of the year 2007) and the new Galaxy. 2007 saw the arrival of the new Mondeo and the new C-Max and 2008 opened with the launch of the new Ford Focus, leader in Italy in the medium car segment. In May the new Ford Kuga, Ford’s first crossover 4X4, will go on sale, followed in the autumn by the queen of small cars, the new Fiesta. The year will close with the debut of the new KA.

Ford Italia today
In 1996 Ford Italia’s headquarters moved to the prestigious building in Via Argoli 54, along with Ford Credit, still in the Eur area of Rome. Eighty years of history have been marked by successes for the Ford Motor Company in Italy. The consecration of a brand that has, as its founder Henry Ford envisioned, rendered the car safe, reliable, accessible and stylishly contemporary.
Today Ford is the import leader in Italy, amongst foreign brands, in terms of sales. As of September 2007 Gaetano Thorel is the President and managing director.