The UK arm of Ford, with engine and transmission plants, a major engineering centre at Dunton and a long history of making British family cars and vans.
Ford Motor Company Limited, which trades as Ford of Britain, is the UK business of the American car maker Ford. In the UK it designs, develops and sells cars and vans, supports a network of dealers, and runs engineering and manufacturing sites. Its products have included household names such as the Anglia, Cortina, Escort, Fiesta and Transit, and today's story includes electric models such as the Puma Gen-E. Ford says these models defined generations of British drivers, and it also built Britain's first £100 family saloon.
The business dates from 1909. The first Ford cars were imported in 1903, the first dealership opened in Southampton in 1910, and the Trafford Park plant in Manchester, opened in 1911, was Ford's first factory outside North America. Dagenham opened in 1931 and was then Europe's largest car plant. Ford says its British story is about resilience, innovation and partnership with the British public.
Ford of Britain's registered office is in Laindon, Essex. Dagenham makes diesel engines, including for the Transit Custom, and runs logistics for parts and vehicles. Halewood on Merseyside makes transmissions and has been developed as a hub for electric vehicle components. Dunton Technical Centre in Essex is home to research and development, a global commercial vehicle centre of excellence, and the marketing, sales and service teams. A Smart Mobility office in the Here East hub in Stratford, London, opened in 2017. These details are from a 2023 report, so check which sites are currently active. Aveley in Essex was once a styling studio and engineering facility, and Warley in Essex was an office, showing how many different kinds of work Ford has done in the UK over the years.
The Henry Ford Academy at Daventry trains the technicians and apprentices who work in the dealer network. Ford also took part in Formula 1 in the past, when it owned Jaguar Racing, and in 2023 announced a partnership with Red Bull Powertrains from the 2026 season, working on batteries, electric motors and combustion engine development.
For people interested in cars, Ford offers a very wide set of job types: engineers, designers, software and electrification specialists, manufacturing and logistics staff, marketers, finance and sales teams, and dealer technicians. We could not find a reliable current headcount, because the sources we read give conflicting numbers. Ford's UK van assembly ended in 2013 when production of the Transit moved to Turkey, and the UK business now focuses on engines, transmissions, engineering and sales.
Website: www.ford.co.uk
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