I am a big fan of the Ford Motor Company.  I am loyal to a fault.  I currently drive a Ford F-150.  Do you also like the Ford company?
Absolutely. My family is kind of tied to them, because my father used to work in their factor in Dearborn, Michigan, where they're headquartered. I also love them because they're as American as it gets, being one of the premier American multinational automakers.
Wow!  How cool is this!  Being so close to the company, what can you tell me about them?
Well, I'm sure you're aware it was founded by Henry Ford, specifically on June 16th, way back in 1903. But further, what people may not realize is that Lincoln is a part of Ford, and it's their luxury brand. And even more interesting still, is the fact that they own a Brazilian SUV manufacturer, Troller, as well as an Australian performance car manufacturer, FPV. They've got a lot of properties.
I did know about Henry Ford; but I had no idea about the Australian or Brazilian manufacturing companies.  This is so amazing!
Exactly. And they have an 8% stake in Aston Martin in the UK, and a 49% stake in Jiangling in China, so they're really diversified and international, interestingly enough.
With that 49% stake in China, do you think they will come to main ownership over that company soon?  I had no idea Ford was in so many international works.
It's hard to say. Ford seems to be adamant about dabbling in a lot of joint ventures, including  one in China (Changan Ford), one in Taiwan (Ford Lio Ho), one in Thailand (AutoAlliance Thailand), one in Turkey (Ford Otosan), and one in Russia (Ford Sollers). So, it may be less about taking over and more about supporting their main company through the success of others.