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Ford Motor Company is the world's largest producer of trucks, and the
second largest producer of cars and trucks combined. Ford has manufacturing
, assembly or sales affiliates in 34 countries and Ford companies employed
337,800 people world-wide in 1994.

Ford Motor Company and its subsidiaries are organized into two major
businesses; automotive and financial services. 

Ford has manufacturing facilities in 22 countries on 5 continents, with 87
plants in North America and 41 in Europe. In Europe, in 1995, Ford's
combined vehicle market share, at 12.2%, was the highest for eleven years,
with three of the eight best-selling cars. Ford's share of the European
commercial vehicle market rose to 14.9%, 0.1 percent over 1994, the highest
since 1967, with Transit still the best-selling medium commercial. In 1995,
in the United States, five of the ten top-selling vehicles were Ford,
including the best-selling car (Ford Taurus) and best-selling truck
(F-series).

Total European vehicle production in 1995 was up 3.6% on the previous year,
with Ford's nine European assembly plants producing 1,730,647 vehicles.
Worldwide, Ford sold over 6.6 million cars and trucks in 1995.

Last year saw the implementation of the biggest change in the history of
the Company. On January 1, 1995, Ford merged its North American Automotive
Operations and its European Automotive Operations into a single
organization, Ford Automotive Operations. Ford's Asia-Pacific, South
American and African operations became part of this organization on January
1, 1996.

Instead of being organized by geographic regions, the Company is now
realigned by product line, with five Vehicle Centers, each responsible for
one group of products worldwide. At the same time, Ford is reducing the
time taken to develop a new vehicle from 48 to 24 months and reducing
engines, transmissions, and basic vehicle platforms by 30% worldwide.
Pooling of global skills and resources will result in more variations on
each vehicle platform, increasing the number of vehicles introduced over
the next five years by 50%.

The realignment has reduced duplication of effort, yet ensures that
locally, customers still continue to enjoy cars that are differentiated to
suit their tastes - the cars may be the same under the skin, but the design
and feel of the vehicles will continue to be a response to the variety of
national identities and tastes among Ford customers.

One of the key strategies behind the realignment has been growth. Ford has
launched a variety of new initiatives throughout the world, with joint
ventures for the assembly of vehicles in countries as diverse as China,
India, Thailand and Vietnam. In China, Ford expects to begin production of
light trucks with a company named Jiangling Motors in the near future. In
India, Mahindra Ford India Ltd. will begin manufacture and distribution of
Ford products, beginning with the Ford Escort, in mid-1996 and Fiesta in
1998. In Thailand, Ford has a joint venture to produce pick-up trucks and
in Vietnam, Ford plans to build a vehicle assembly plant at Hanoi, together
with partners Song Cong Diesel. In Poland, the Plonsk plant has begun to
build Escorts and Transits. In Hungary, Ford has a components plant making
ignition coils, starters and fuel pumps, and a components manufacturing
facility in the Czech Republic makes a variety of automotive lighting and
climate control products.

Joint ventures are establishing a presence for Ford all over the globe.
Ford is working with two companies in Korea, one to supply automotive air
conditioning units and the second as a new joint venture to produce
electronic components later this year. In addition to the 20% of Jiangling
Motors, China, acquired by Ford in 1995, four further manufacturing joint
ventures in China have been set up to produce radiators, glass, plastic and
electronic components. Ford has also acquired a 45% equity in South African
company, Samcor, for the assembly of Ford vehicles.

The sale of Ford vehicles in markets all over the world carries the Ford
badge into more places than ever before. The European Mondeo is currently
on sale in 52 countries, with sister cars the US Ford Contour and Mercury
Mystique bringing the total up to 78. (Ford Fiesta is currently on sale in
42 world markets)

Ford is aware of its responsibilities in designing, manufacturing and
running cars that will cause the minimum of disruption to the world we live
in. Ford is a worldwide leader in developing vehicles designed to be
recyclable. In the United Kingdom, Ford has worked in partnership with
Southampton University to develop ground-breaking equipment to identify
plastics on used vehicles, allowing common materials to be melted down and
reused far more easily, in addition to which all European Ford vehicles now
have plastic parts marked to allow future recyclers to dismantle and reuse
the constituent parts more readily.

Ford has a pilot dismantling plant at its Niehl plant in Germany,
conducting research that can be fed back into product development to ensure
simpler dismantling for the next generation of cars. Already Ford reuses
the plastic from bumpers to make rearlight housings and bumper brackets on
new cars, with over 50 million plastic bottles being used annually to make
new grille reinforcements, luggage racks and door trims. Ford has compiled
a set of 'Worldwide Recycling Guidelines' for use by its suppliers around
the world, enabling them to modify their own components with a similar eye
on the future recyclability.

Ford has the industry's most aggressive electric vehicle program, with the
Escort van-based Ecostar, the most advanced electric vehicle in the world,
placed on test with fleets all around the world. An electric version of the
US-built Ford Ranger will be on sale in 1998. The Ranger's build makes it
well-suited to carry the 2,000 pounds of battery needed in existing
technology electric vehicles and its extensive fleet use make the 50 mile
driving range practicable. Ford is working with the US department of energy
to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, which will combine the benefits of
electric power over shorter distances with more conventional systems for
longer range driving.

Various alternative fuels being developed by Ford include methanol/ethanol,
(a flexible fuel version of the Ford Taurus has been on sale for four
years) and natural gas, with a version of the Ford Crown Victoria being the
first factory-produced dedicated natural gas powered car from any
manufacturer.

Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 and within ten years had vehicles on
sale throughout Europe, South America and Asia. The Company's first
European sales branch was opened in France in 1908 and the first regional
company and assembly plant outside North America were established in
Britain in 1911. Ford of Europe Incorporated was established in 1967,
bringing together the various nations within Europe as one organization -
an important step towards the single worldwide organization that Ford will
have become by the turn of the century.
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Pozdrawia S.D.
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