Ford has built the 250,000th (European version) Focus at its Russian plant in Vsevolozhsk, near St Petersburg. The milestone silver 1.8-litre Ghia wagon is heading for a customer in Moscow.
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The model line has been Russia’s best-selling foreign car for the past five consecutive full years, Ford said.
“We were the very first foreign manufacturer to open our own production facility in Russia and when the first locally-built Focus was built at Vsevolozhsk in 2002, the plant had an annual production capacity of 25,000 cars,” said John Fleming, president and CEO, Ford of Europe.
“In order to keep pace with demand from customers in Russia, that figure has risen today to 75,000, and it will rise again to 125,000 in 2009, when the Mondeo will also be produced at the plant,” he added.
The plant is currently hiring 1,300 new workers, taking the total to 3,500 by the end of the year.
The Russian plant builds the Focus in four body styles with a choice of five engines, automatic or manual transmission and a choice of three trims.
Sales were up 25% in the first half of this year to 46,335.
