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Birth of 'T' Model
"I will build a motor car for the great multitude", he announced at the birth of Model ‘T’ in October 1908. In 19 years, he sold 15,500,000 cars in the United States, almost 1,000,000 more in Canada, and 250,000 in Great Britain, a total production amounting to half of the auto output of the world ! The motor age had arrived, thanks to Ford’s vision of the car, it was now an ordinary man’s utility, rather than a the rich man’s luxury.
Sharing Profits & Benefits
Ford Motor Company announced that it would pay eligible workers a minimum wage of $ 5 a day compared to an average of $ 2.34 paid to the other industrial workers. The year was 1914. Ford reduced the working day-hours from nine hours to eight, and implemented three-shift schedule. Ford became a worldwide celebrity overnight. People admired him as a great humanitarian; while some others criticized him as a mad socialist.
On the other hand, he continuously reduced the price of Model ‘T’, which used to cost $ 950 in 1908 to $ 290 in 1927. Such innovations changed the very structure of the society as a whole.
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