OREANDA-NEWS. Ford Sollers Company started the production at the modernized plant in Naberezhnye Chelny, which became the third platform of joint venture in Russia. Production capacity will be 115 thousand cars per year, the number of employees - about 1,200 people.

As the president and CEO of Ford Sollers, Ted Kannis, said, it was carried out the full modernization at the plant: a new high-tech welding system was installed, capacity of the plant body painting was increased, and infrastructure was updated. Investments in the project were about 400 million Dollars. The upgraded site in Naberezhnye Chelny will specialize in the production of massive B-segment models by full-cycle technology.

Subcompact crossover Ford EcoSport - is the first model, the production of which started at the Ford Sollers plant in Naberezhnye Chelny. In 2015, the company will begin the production of the new hatchback Ford Fiesta.

"Ford Sollers continues to carry out all the projects approved in the business plan. We follow our promise not only to expand the range of Ford in Russia, but also enhance greatly the level of localization of production and, therefore, since the start of the production of subcompact crossover 30 components for Ford EcoSport will come from local suppliers, and next year we will begin in Tatarstan to produce engines for this model", - said the first vice-president and the COO of Ford Sollers, Adil Shirinov.

To date, Ford Sollers produces Ford cars at three plants in Russia. Model range, available for Russian buyers, includes a full range of SUV - a full-size SUV Ford Explorer, a mid-size crossover Ford Kuga crossover and subcompact Ford EcoSport, light commercial vehicles, presented by family Transit of the new generation, as well as passenger models Ford Focus and Ford Mondeo.

Previously, Ford Sollers announced that during 2014-2015 it will launch six new models, five of which will be produced locally; therewith, new items of Ford will be presented in the most capacious market niches that will help to strengthen the position of the Ford brand in the Russian market. Ford Sollers will also start the production of engines for the most popular models at the plant in Yelabuga in 2015.