A surprisingly few number of companies own most of the major automobile brands in the world , but when it comes to American motors, there are three major companies everyone should be aware of: Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. All three of them are massive corporations, but the reach of the latter two is a lot wider than Ford. General Motors and Stellantis are both parent companies to many different brands.
You don't buy a car from General Motors, for example; you buy one from Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, or Buick. With Stellantis, you buy one from Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, or Ram. And those aren't even all of the brands those two companies own, either.
When it comes to Ford, however, that is what you are buying. You go to a Ford dealership to get yourself a Ford. Because of that, you may not realize that Ford is responsible not just for its own brand but several others as well, although its scope is far narrower than its competitors.
It's even narrower than it was years ago, when it had its hand in several other companies. Sometimes, Ford chose to discontinue those brands, like it did with Mercury . Other times, it sold them off to other companies, such as Jaguar, Volvo, and Land Rover.
In the case of its relationship with Mazda , Ford invested heavily in the Japanese automaker to bring it to the United States, but it subsequently sold all of its shares in it. As of 2024, Ford only has two brands to its name. The first is obviously the standard Ford brand, and the other is one.