The Rouge Steel company began as an integral part of Henry Ford's sprawling River Rouge automobile plant, built in 1918. The steelmaker remained a lucrative division of Ford until the early 1980's. It then lost profitability due to economic recession and a troubled U.S. auto market.
In 1982 Ford converted its steel division to form a wholly owned subsidiary. It was sold to Marico Acquisition Corporation in 1989. It was then sold to Severstal Steel, a Russian company in 2004.
