300,000th Focus rolls off St. Petersburg production line

By Peter Noble

St.PETERSBURG, Russia - The 300,000th locally-built Focus rolled off the production line today in Ford's plant in Vsevolozhsk, near St Petersburg in Russia.

The vehicle, a 5-door hatchback, was produced seven years after the plant manufactured its first car, also a Focus. The milestone car will be delivered to a customer in St Petersburg.

"The Focus has been a tremendous success with consumers here in Russia since it first went on sale. Customers are attracted by the design, driving experience and affordability of the car," said Nigel Brackenbury, president and managing director, Ford Motor Company ZAO.

The Ford facility in Vsevolozhsk is the only plant in Europe that manufactures the Focus in all four body styles: 3-door, 4-door, 5-door and estate, with a variety of engines, automatic transmissions and a choice of three trim series.

"This milestone emphasises the outstanding performance of the Vsevolozhsk plant" said Gray Greenway, the plant's general director. "To continue being a flexible manufacturing facility our main objective must be to achieve success with the Focus both in its competitive position and in customer satisfaction results."

Earlier his year, the plant commenced production of a second vehicle, the Mondeo.

The production cycle for both models includes body construction, paint shop, final assembly and quality control. Currently, the plant employs over 2,000 people and total investment exceeds $340 million.

Last year, a total of 64,945 Focus models left the production line in Vsevolozhsk.