Mr Ford, on a personal visit to Ireland with his family, met with the local community of Ballinascarthy and had lunch with Hazel Ford Buttimer, a descendant of the Ford family, before visiting the site of the original Ford homestead.
His great-great grandfather, also William, left Cork on a famine ship in 1847 bound for the US. The company, which is son Henry founded, now employs 166,000 people and sells more than five million vehicles a year around the world.
Henry Ford himself visited Ireland 99 years ago this week, paving the way for the establishment of Henry Ford & Son Limited in Cork five years later, in 1917. It remains the only Ford business in the world to bear the full name of the company's founder.
Bill Ford is pictured above with Eddie Murphy, boss of Ford Ireland (seated).
