Ford Motor Company ranked most iconic American company in new survey

Ford Motor Company has been ranked as the No. 1 most popular company in America, according to a new ranking conducted by Time magazine and global data platform Statista.

The recognition, which was based on a nationwide survey of the U.S. population, places the Michigan-based automaker at the top of a list of 250 American companies that have not only achieved commercial success but also played a “vital role in shaping culture and society,” Time reported.

“Just as my great-grandfather put the world on wheels to give people freedom of movement, our modern-day approach is rooted in the same spirit,” Ford Motor Company CEO Bill Ford said in a statement. “Innovation is not just about building batteries or technology itself, it is about making people’s lives better.”

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Bill Ford stressed the company’s focus on American workers, noting that Ford Motor Company is the largest hourly auto employer in the United States.

“We are leveraging our position as the largest hourly vehicle employer in the United States to ensure the future of transportation is built by American workers for everyday American families,” he said.

Founded in 1903, the Ford Motor Company is credited with transforming modern manufacturing through the assembly line — an innovation that made automobiles more accessible to ordinary Americans and reshaped the development of cities and suburbs across the country, according to Time magazine.

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Ford Motor Company CEO Bill Ford Jr. stands next to a 2021 Ford F-150 pickup truck at the Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan, on September 17, 2020. (Reuters/Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

“Now, it is positioned to redefine the future of mobility in the country, experimenting with self-driving cars and working to lower the prices of its electric cars,” Time wrote.

Other companies in the top 10 include Apple, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Amazon, McDonald’s, General Motors, Microsoft, Google, Nike and The Walt Disney Company.

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Workers assemble cars at a Ford assembly plant in Chicago on June 24, 2019. (Jim Young/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Last month, Ford Motor Co.’s CEO expressed praise for the Trump administration’s plan to make cars more affordable.

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“What you should know is that this is a victory for affordability and common sense. As the president said, we’ll be able to offer more affordability on our popular models, and we’ll be able to launch new, made-in-America vehicles that are more affordable because of this rule change,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said on “Fox & Friends” on Dec. 4.

FOX Business’ Kristen Altus contributed to this report.