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Ford Joins Assembly Race in Russia
The pioneer amid car makers willing to assemble their vehicles in Russia, Ford is set to double capacity of the plant in the Leningrad Region. After it, Ford’s project will become the biggest of similar undertakings in Russia, well ahead of today’s leader Volkswagen, which is building a plant in Kaluga.
Ford is willing to double capacity of Ford Vsevolozhsk plant to 150,000 cars a year, said Leningrad Region’s Governor Valery Sergyukov after the meeting with vice president of Ford Europe. Today’s capacity is 72,000 cars; this year’s output of Ford Focus II is estimated at 60,000.
Sergykov didn’t elaborate. In Ford Motor Co., they declined to comment on the statement of the governor but specified that decision on production growth could be taken during three to six months.
But it looks like top mangers of Ford have arrived at some decision already. Ford Russia President Henric Nenzen vowed in August to come up with some definite conclusion on Ford Vsevolozhsk’s capacity by late this year.
Doubling the annual capacity of Ford Vsevolozhsk will make it the most ambitious project of foreign car assembly in Russia. Today’s leader is the project of Volkswagen (VW) in Kaluga. The annual capacity of this carmaker is estimated to reach 115,000 cars, and the budget stands at ˆ370 million.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 08, 2006
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