Ford Lio Ho (福特六和) is an Taiwanese-based automaker. It is 70% owned by Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford Motor Company. Its current passenger car range includes the Fiesta (Mk 6), the Focus, and the Mondeo (Mk 3), as well as the i-Max and the Escape. Its commercial vehicle range consists of the Ranger and the Econovan.
It began operations in 1972, assembling Ford models like the Cortina. In the 1980s, it began assembly of Mazda-based models, such as the Laser (Mazda 323), Telstar (Mazda 626) and Festiva (Mazda 121). Former Ford models unique to Taiwan include the Ford Tierra, based on the Mazda 323 sedan, but with different styling from the similar Ford Laser, the Ford Activa, a rebadged Mazda 323 hatchback, and the Ford Mondeo Metrostar, based on the European Mondeo sedan, but with styling cues from the North American Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.
Taiwan-market Ford and Mazda vehicles include locally-assembled Ford Mondeo, Ford Focus, Ford Escape, Mazda 3, Mazda 5, and Mazda Tribute. Also, all 2007 model year Asia/Pacific (except South Korean-market) Ford Escapes are assembled by Ford Lio Ho. The Taiwan-assembled Mondeo is also exported to mainland China. After the ban on diesel-engined passenger cars was lifted in Taiwan in 2004, Ford Lio Ho became the first local manufacturer to build a diesel car. This was a diesel Focus, inroduced in August 2007.
The Taiwanese units of Jaguar, Land Rover, and Mazda are organized under Ford Lio Ho.
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“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)