OREANDA-NEWS. Engine plant Ford Sollers in Elabuga celebrates its first year of production. The plant started to produce three versions of the 1.6L Duratec gasoline engine in September 2015. The anniversary engine, produced after one year since the beginning of production, is presented at the International Specialized Exhibition “Import replacement” as press service of Ford Sollers informed.

Ford Sollers engines reached the localization level of 45% in record time. Since 2015 under the long-term strategy of localization, Ford Sollers equipped engines, which are produced at plant  in Elabuga by aluminium component parts from Rusal Company. From the start of production all engines assembled at Ford Sollers plant has received the main components delivered by Russian suppliers and have been produced from local raw materials.

As AUTOSTAT previously reported, in September of 2015, Ford Sollers launched a new engine plant in Elabuga with investments amounting to $275 million. The annual capacity of the engine plant at the first stage amounts to 105,000 engines, with a possible increase up to 200,000 engines annually. The new plant is outfitted with the hi-tech equipment that allowed automating the production by 95%.