Ford kicks off C-MAX production at plant in Germany

Production of the new Ford C-MAX, featuring a new front end with “kinetic design” elements, started on March 26 at the Ford plant in Saarlouis, Germany.

Roland Henz, Lord Mayor of Saarlouis, and plant manager Jacques Pollenus drove the first vehicle from the production line. The new Ford C-MAX will be launched across Europe starting in May. Ford C-MAX production volume in 2007 is expected to be 129,000 units.

Bernhard Mattes, chairman of Ford-Werke GmbH, said: “The Ford C-MAX, with its many interesting equipment features, provides a solid basis for ensuring that the jobs of Ford employees in Saarlouis remain secure. We invested a total of €17 million in the development and modernization of the plant for the Ford C-MAX.”

The Saarlouis plant is working at a maximum daily capacity of 1,920 units of the Ford Focus and the Ford C-MAX in a three-shift operation around the clock. These 1,920 vehicles – produced in a flexible manufacturing mix – include a total of 1,300 units of the Ford Focus as three- and five-door models, as well as the station wagon, and 620 units of the Ford C-MAX.

In addition to the three modern gasoline-driven models and three just as powerful and economical Duratorq TDCi turbo-diesel models – offering a performance range from 66 kW (90 HP) to 107 kW (145 HP) – the Ford C-MAX is also available as a particularly environmentally friendly natural gas variant and as a 1.8 Flexifuel that can be refueled with bio-ethanol (E85). As a regenerative source of energy won from biomass, bio-ethanol reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 percent.

The Ford plant in Saarlouis is the largest employer in the Saarland with 6,400 staff and a further 2,000 persons employed in the neighboring supplier industrial park. It is the lead Ford plant for production of the Ford Focus, which has been manufactured there since August 1998. The share of skilled workers among the workforce amounts to 63 percent.

A total of 78 percent of all Ford Focus and Ford C-MAX models are exported from the Saar River to some 68 countries around the world, including Angola, Australia, Jamaica, Japan, Tahiti, Taiwan and New Zealand. The largest foreign markets by volume are Great Britain, Italy and France. The Ford Focus is also produced at plants in Valencia, Spain, and Vsevolozhsk near St. Petersburg in Russia. The C-MAX is manufactured exclusively in Saarlouis.

Since the first model of Ford Focus C-MAX, as it was then called, came off the production lines in Saarland on June 27, 2003, more than 509,000 vehicles have been built and sold.

More than nine million vehicles have been produced in Saarlouis since the start of manufacturing there on January 16, 1970. The first model was the Ford Escort, followed by the Ford Capri, Ford Fiesta and Ford Orion. The record-holder in this series is the Ford Escort with more than 6.5 million units manufactured in Saarlouis.