Miguel Sánchez
For those who access the city of Cadiz by train, the name of Segunda Aguada will surely sound like the daily routine of going to work every day. And the fact is that the Cercanías line as well as the Media Distancia line that connects the city with Seville has one of its most frequented stops. A railway tradition that has defined the area for more than a century, when the roads responsible for communicating the industrial area of the Cadiz port with the Peninsula reached here. In addition, these were not in the center of the current urban framework. Far from it, they marched along the shore of the bay since, after all, the massive widening of the isthmus of Cádiz had not yet begun.
Thus, in the area of Segunda Aguada there were not a few of the wineries eager to export their wines. Being Rodríguez La-Cave SA the most benefited by this easy connection between the train that went inland and the docks where the ships were loaded. Sample of the important wine industry included in the Sanlúcar-Jerez-Cádiz-Chiclana axis, living with the incipient factories installed in the free zone of the port of Cadiz. With all this, the second decade of the 1778th century saw how little by little the port and its bay were acquiring an industrial aspect. A rebirth that awakened the city from the decadence that began in XNUMX with the end of its monopoly on colonial trade.
In this way, new winds of commerce and industry reached liberal Cádiz from the other side of the Atlantic. Of course, this time they did not come from Havana or Cartagena de Indias. Even from the powerful ports of the Río de la Plata. But from much further north. Specifically from Henry Ford's office in the United States. Focused on making your Model T a global phenomenon, the serial motoring tycoon chose the city of Cádiz for the installation of its first assembly plant in Spain. A decision thought under the logic of rationality but that, after three years, was changed by the transfer of the facilities to Barcelona.
THE BEGINNINGS OF FORD IN SPAIN
In 1976 Ford Valencia Body & Assembly was founded. The same one that is still active today in Almussafes, maintaining some 7.000 jobs according to data from the past 2020. In addition, the importance of this plant was especially significant since with it Ford returned to the Spanish industry after having left the country in 1953. All this after selling Ford Motor Ibérica to the state in 1954, noting that in the Spanish market at that time there was little room for anything other than the newly created SEAT and FASA.
However, Ford's relationship with Spain went back a long way. Specifically since 1904. The year in which the Barcelona salesman Eduard Chalaux won a sales concession to which Joan Casajuana joined three years later. At this point, at the beginning of the 1908s, the popular Model T -launched in XNUMX- was already being sold normally through various dealers scattered throughout the Iberian Peninsula. In fact, After the First World War its sales had risen so much that Henry Ford chose to also produce it in Spain..
In addition, Ford already had subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Canada and Argentina. Thus demonstrating its clear interest in the European market. Mind you, where should the new assembly plant be installed? To begin with, the most logical decision could have been Barcelona. In the end, the Catalan capital had automotive tradition and therefore enjoyed an interesting auxiliary industry. In addition, its port guaranteed a good connection to receive the pieces arriving from the United States as well as to export to the entire Mediterranean area. However, the social situation did not invite it.
THE RISE AND FALL OF CADIZ
At the beginning of 1919, the La Canadiense strike took place in Barcelona. With almost three quarters of the industry stopped for more than a month, this remains one of the greatest achievements for trade unionism due to conquering the eight hour day. In fact, thanks to the massive mobilizations during the conflict, Spain was one of the first countries in the world to regulate it by law. In addition, the serenity and strength shown by the strikers favored the growth of labor unions over the spontaneous and violent actions of gunmen.
Thus, Barcelona appeared to Ford as an industrial capital characterized by political instability and a unionized and combative working class. Reasons that overturned the balance in favor of Cádiz, which was much smaller and therefore much quieter. It's more, It also had a strategic geographical position. All accompanied by its free zone. Where the Model T could be assembled under extensive tax exemptions. Enough reasons for Henry Ford, who in September 1919 gave the green light to the creation of the Ford Motor Company SAE Cádiz.
Inaugurated at the beginning of the following year, the factory began assembling units of the Model T with mechanical parts brought from the United States and body panels carved in Cádiz. All of this is supervised by a directive from the headquarters in America, which was joined by up to 300 local workers. With all that production was set at almost three dozen vehicles per day, also assembling trucks and vans to complete a wide range of Ford models. However, over time the problems derived from having settled in an area with little industrial tradition began to appear.
Just the point where we lose the path of the data to start the path of assumptions. Let's see. To begin with, those problems - also related to the problematic lack of auxiliary industry - could have been solved with a little more investment in labor. Something perfectly solvable for Ford, which had already set up factories in areas in need of training and specific equipment. In addition, there was no notable labor conflict and it was even planned to expand the assembly lines. However, at the beginning of 1923 the last Ford was produced in Cádiz before moving the factory to Barcelona. What were the reasons?
A HISTORY OF TAXES AND FEES
Only three years old, Ford left Cádiz to settle in the spring of 1923 in the port area of Barcelona. Just the same city that had been scrapped in favor of Cádiz due to the troubled political climate. Something that came for a compelling reason. And it is that the Ministry of Finance began to demand from Ford of Cádiz the same taxes that it should have paid if it had imported the cars instead of manufacturing them in the free zone from the port of Cadiz. In other words, overnight, the vehicles produced in Cádiz began to have the same tax treatment as imports. Tariffs of around 25% given the time. Reaching almost 100% decades later in more restrictive market situations that did not collapse until the XNUMXs.
Thus, numerous political personalities related to the Andalusian city mediated so that the Ford Motor Company SAE respected the fiscal principles agreed in 1920. All in vain. Well the Ministry of Finance led from August 1921 to March 1922 by Francesc Cambó did not give his arm to twist. Inaugurating a strategy that would go until 1923, beyond his transit through office. Desperate situation that forced the transfer to Barcelona where, without having an accurate explanation today, it was promised that this situation would not occur. And, in fact, it did not happen. Far from it, Ford was treated there as just another national company, doubling its capital in 1923 from half a million to a million pesetas in a gesture of clear confidence.
Obviously this story leaves many loose ends. As many as an authoritarian system like the Restoration knows how to sew and unsew through meetings and agreements under the table. In this sense, there are two explanations at the end of the Ford Motor Company SAE in Cádiz. The first is the one based on the problems derived from the lack of preparation of the Cadiz staff. which, rather strikingly, leaves aside the whole question regarding the role here played by the Ministry of Finance. The second is the one that points to Cambó's interests in taking -albeit under pressure- the Ford factory to Barcelona.
After all, he belonged to the Catalan bourgeoisie, defending its interests from the ranks of the conservative party Lliga Regionalista. In addition, he became one of the wealthiest businessmen of his time, helping finance the coup against the Republic that started the Civil War. In fact, he was a clear defender of the Francoist cause since the first shots of the armed conflict caught him sailing on a yacht before returning to his residence in Switzerland. A biography that does not explain the gaps in this story either, although it is good to put it on the table in order to give more options. Be that as it may, for three years Cádiz saw almost 10.000 Ford units assembled. It's not bad at all.
P.D. For more information on the subject there is a book entitled The History of Ford in Cádiz, written by Manuel Martínez Cordero in 1998 with the support of Ford herself. In addition, it is of great interest due to its clarity in the presentation of data the article by S. González Crespo and JM Vázquez -researchers from the University of Cádiz- published in 2017.
