Ford’s JV with Russian automaker Sollers, which recently built its 5,000th Transit van, will also make the Kuga, S-Max, Galaxy and Explorer models in Russia’s constituent republic of Tatarstan, the JV said in a statement.

“We have announced the launch of local production of Kuga, S-Max, Galaxy and our flagship car the Ford Explorer at the plant located in the city of Yelabuga. This is positive news for us because we know that the demand for SUV crossovers is increasing in the Russian market,” the Ford-Sollers deputy president Adil Shirinov was quoted as saying by Prime News.

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Sollers and Ford control the company, which began operations in 2011, on a parity basis.

The output of the plant is expected to be 350,000 Ford vehicles per year by 2015.

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