NEWS
The joint venture between PAO Sollers and Ford Motor Company, Ford Sollers Yelabuga, announces the start of the updated Ford Transit production at the company’s plant in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone. The first vehicles have been rolled off the assembly line and shipped to customers in official Transit centres.
The updated Ford Transit retained all its benefits and now enjoys updated seats, a new colour palette of exterior and interior. The supporting body structure and door locks were also upgraded, which resulted in additional strengthening of the body.
Ford Transit is the Russia’s market leader in the segment of commercial vehicles among foreign brands. Model sales in January to August increased by 7% compared to the same period last year, amounting to 7,267 vehicles. In total, 1,237 vehicles were sold in August. Ford Transit has been produced at the Yelabuga plant since April 2015 using full cycle technology, including welding and painting.
The company also continues to work on the development of vertical localisation which suggests the organisation of the entire production chain in Russia, from the extraction of raw materials to the production of finished components. This year, the supply of Ford Transit bumpers made of Tathimplast materials were launched. Dashboards and door panels for Ford Transit are also made from local raw materials.
Based on information by Ford Sollers press service
Today, the Alabuga Special Economic Zone saw the grand opening of a state-of-the-art August Company facility for the production of chemical plant protection solutions that are beyond compare worldwide. The opening ceremony of the August-Alabuga plant was attended by Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Agro-Industrial Complex, Natural Resources and Environment Aleksey Gordeyev, and Deputy Minister Aleksey Savelchev from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan. The honoured guests also include representatives of relevant ministries from Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan and heads of major August Company partner enterprises, and other officials.
Construction of the facility began in 2016; the plant received a certificate from the Rostekhnadzor in May 2019. In addition to August, the construction investor was the Industry Development Fund, which provided a loan of RUB 500 million.
The production output of the August-Alabuga plant is 50 million litres of finished products and 8 million cans of plastic packaging per year. The company boasts of advanced equipment and has a high degree of automation. The plant will apply the clean production method, also used in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.
The August-Alabuga facility will produce herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, disinfectants in liquid form, as well as multi-layer high-strength polymer cans with a capacity of 5 and 10 litres with an internal protective layer for packaging plant protection products.