Ford Netherlands has existed for a hundred years

On March 6, 1924, the Dutch department of the Ford Motor Company was established. That was exactly one hundred years ago today. Then a ton in guilders was spent to put 55 people to work to sell the cars in our country directly from Ford. This initially happened from a hotel in Rotterdam. Later, Ford assembly would also take place in the Maasstad. Now, a century later, Ford Netherlands operates from Amstelveen and for the anniversary the team took a photo with the car with which it all started: the Model T. The electric Ford Explorer, which will soon be on the market here, is also there.

The above advertisement promoted not only driving, but also flying Fords in the early years. Remarkable; ‘the’ Lincoln was also present. Ultimately, Ford’s luxury brand would no longer be officially available here. At the bottom you will see ‘Ford Automobiel Fabriek Rotterdam’, because as mentioned, Fords were ultimately assembled in the Maasstad. After the war, Dutch assembly lines were also set up. For example, Ford assembled the first generation Mustang in the Amsterdam factory on the North Sea Canal for the local market and later the Transit would roll off the production line.

The Ford factory in Amsterdam.

Building Fords has not been happening in the Netherlands for over 40 years now. Since then it has all been imports. In any case, this did not do Ford any harm; A total of more than 1.5 million Fords came with Dutch license plates. According to Kenteken.tv, there are currently approximately 750,000 Fords on Dutch license plates, of which approximately 603,000 are passenger cars. The Ford Fiesta is the most common model in the Netherlands, with more than 174,000 units, followed by the Focus with more than 158,000 units.

Over the past ten years, Ford sales in the Netherlands have been slightly lower than before. Ford last exceeded 30,000 passenger car sales per year in 2013. Last year, more than 13,000 Fords were destroyed. Of all the years for which we have figures (since 1983), 1986 was the most successful, with 57,000 cars sold. Over those years, the Ford Escort is still the best-selling model, with more than 315,000 units sold since then.