OREANDA-NEWS. Ford Sollers Company can bring the localization of cars that are manufactured in Russia, by 2018-2019 up to 83-85%, said the first vice-president and executive director of JV, Adil Schirinov. It is more than it was required by the agreement on industrial assembly signed with the Ministry of Economic Development, - 60% by the end of 2018. "I believe that if we go such steps, we can forget about competitiveness. 70% - is the minimum task that we need to put,"- said Mr.Shirinov. Now the localization for models that are produced by the joint venture at three plants in Russia (St. Petersburg and Tatarstan) is about 40%, wrote the newspaper "Vedomosti".

From September 2014 to February 2015, Ford models due to the devaluation of the ruble in Russia rose in price by 45%, according to PwC. In I quarter of 2015, Ford sales in the country fell by 71% to 5,060 units (market – by 36.3%), says the data of AEB. Devaluation of the ruble has demonstrated what risks automakers have with a low degree of localization, reminds the executive director of the agency "AUTOSTAT", Sergey Udalov. It was one of the reasons for the decision on conservation of GM plant in Russia, which was announced in March, supposes the Ministry of Industry.

The most difficult stage in the localization is the first, when the automaker is looking for local suppliers, builds relationships, builds logistics, continues Mr.Udalov. This work was already done by Ford Sollers plus it will launch engine plant in Russia in 2015, he says. The joint venture has a wide model range and large production capacity, and it reinforces the positive effect of localization, emphasizes Mr.Udalov. In addition, the high localization is beneficial for the development of exports, particularly in terms of devaluation, he adds.