Ford has halted production at its Russian plant until 5 June in response to a slump in demand, a spokeswoman has said.
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“We have suspended production at the Vsevolozhsk factory because of the market situation and forecasts for falling sales in the automobile industry,” spokeswoman Yekaterina Kulinenko told news agency AFP.
Ford had already halted production for one month this winter from 21 December to 21 January.
Employees at the plant, located near Saint Petersburg, are to be paid one-third of their normal wages during the shutdown.
When production resumes in June the plant will continue with four-day work weeks until 5 October, Kulinenko said.
Ford’s assembly line in Vsevolozhsk, near Russia’s second city, has produced the Focus and Mondeo models for sale on the Russian market since 2002 and employs about 200,000 people.
Although the Focus is the highest selling foreign model in Russia, Ford has said it plans to cut its annual output to 1.5m vehicles in 2009 compared with 3m last year.
Foreign manufacturers rushed to set up production bases in Russia in recent years hoping to capitilise on what was formerly Europe’s fastest growing automotive market.
But Russian sales have dropped dramatically in the financial crisis. The market almost halved in April compared to the same period last year.
