“It was an exciting moment,” Bruce Hettle, executive director of Global Manufacturing Ford Motor Company, said in a release. “We built the car part by part from start to finish, from the first piece of sheet metal. And with every step, each plant – here in North America, in Europe and in Asia-Pacific – raised its hand to say, ‘Yes, we confirm we can do that.’ And it wasn’t just engineers and executives. It was also the people who will build the cars on the plant floor.”
Ford has already revealed an initial list of key plants around the world that will contribute to the high-volume C-segment output plans:
- WAYNE, Michigan – approx. 3,200 employees will build Ford’s next-generation Focus global small car along with a new battery-electric version of the Focus for the North American market.
- SAARLOUIS, Germany – will continue its role as the initial European production source for the third-generation model. According to international research studies, the 3.1-million-square-foot plant with approximately 6,000 employees is one of the most efficient both within Ford and the European automotive industry.
- VALENCIA, Spain –It will become the European source for the next-generation Ford C-MAX, which goes into production this year. The 2.7-million-square-foot plant employs about 6,300 people.
- ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – The 2,100-employee plant in Russia’s Leningrad Region currently produces the Ford Focus and Ford Mondeo, having undergone incremental investments to grow its annual capacity to 125,000 vehicles.
- CHONGQING, China –Scheduled for completion in 2012, the $490 million plant will be the production home in China for the Ford Focus, with an initial production capacity of 150,000 units.
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