Today we are observing an important milestone in the history of Ford Motor Company – the production of our 300th millionth vehicle.



We celebrated this occasion by driving a ceremonial 300 millionth car, a 2004 Ford Mustang, off the line at Dearborn Assembly Plant, our oldest manufacturing facility. But this remarkable achievement was accomplished through the efforts of Ford employees around the world.



My congratulations and thanks to all of you.



It is appropriate that we are concluding our centennial year by celebrating a product manufacturing milestone. Great products and manufacturing leadership are important parts of what made us successful for the last 100 years. But as I told the employees at the plant, today's ceremony wasn't an ending, it was a beginning.



In the next five years we will introduce more than 200 new products worldwide, the biggest wave of new products in our history. As we prepare for these launches we are transforming our plants around the world into state-of-the-art centers of lean, flexible manufacturing. Our plans are all aimed at continued global leadership.



We're going to build on our heritage with exciting new products and innovative technology that will lead us into our next century. It's been a great 100 years, but we're just getting started.



Thank you for your support.





Bill Ford