Saturday, December 09, 2017
Were Canadians stockier than Americans?
As long as I'm doing odd bits of history today...
A Collectible Auto article on the Canadian versions of Ford and Mercury mentions:
In his announcement at the 1946 shareholders meeting (Ford of Canada stock was publicly traded on the Toronto exchange, something no other Canadian carmaker could claim) company president Douglas Greig said etc.
In USA the situation was reversed. There were 10 significant and separate automakers at that time. Ford, GM, Chrysler, Nash, Hudson, Willys, Studebaker, Packard, Crosley, Kaiser. Ford was the only company that was NOT stock-based. Ford didn't "go public" until 1956, and even now a member of the Ford family is still on the corporate board.
How did Ford of Canada end up as a separate corporation with a separate form of ownership, while the other Canadian divisions were just divisions?
From wikipedia:
The Ford Motor Company of Canada [founded in 1904] was not a subsidiary or a branch plant of Ford Motor Company - rather, it was a separate organization and had its own distinct group of shareholders. At its formation, Ford Motor Company was not a shareholder of Ford Canada, but its twelve founding shareholders directly held 51% of Ford Canada's shares, and Henry Ford himself owned 13% of the new company. The Company had gained all Ford patent rights and selling privileges to all parts of the British Empire, except Great Britain and Ireland.Okay, but still doesn't explain why Henry decided to leave it separate, while GM and others turned their Canadian operations into divisions. GM's northern branch started as an unrelated company using Buick engines in its cars, then merged.
Labels: Asked and badly answered
¶ 5:16 PM
