Meet new Ford EcoSport partly made in Russia

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian suppliers of Ford Sollers company, engaged in Ford production in Russia, have started to export components for the European production of Ford vehicles, the company said in a press release Thursday.

“Russian suppliers of Ford Sollers have started to deliver Russian-made components to the Ford plant in Craiova [Romania]. The list of exported components consists of 47 items, which are used in production of the new Ford EcoSport,”

the statement said.

According to the press release, Ford purchases Russian-made stamped body parts, interior elements, glass and seals. In particular, the Faurecia plant in the Leningrad Region exports door panels, AGC and Magna plant from Nizhny Novgorod export glass and spare wheel covers, respectively and Saargummi in Yaroslavl produces rubber seals. Stamped body parts come directly from two manufacturers, Coscunoz in Tatarstan and Peterform in the Leningrad Region.

According to Nikolai Khodosevich, the Ford Sollers vice president for procurement, the Romanian plant is interested in Russian components due to the logistical proximity of the two countries and the availability of production capacities in Russia that meet world quality requirements, as well as due to the price.

Earlier in the day, Ford Motor launched the production of renewed subcompact crossover Ford EcoSport at the Craiova plant. Previously EcoSport crossovers were delivered to Europe from India. Crossovers from Romania will be delivered to all European markets, with the exception of Russia, where the localized version of the model has been produced since 2014 at the Ford Sollers plant in Naberezhnye Chelny.