VALENCIA, Spain, November 2, 2009 – Ford of Spain has built its ten millionth vehicle at the Valencia Assembly plant. The milestone vehicle - a white Ford Fiesta Titanium 1.4 TDCi five-door – is destined for the Spanish market. The Fiesta commemorates a landmark in the history of the plant and highlights Ford’s commitment to this location.
The Valencia plant has become the Company's flexibility benchmark, producing 1,460 units daily on two shifts - the Ford Focus (four-door and five-door) and the Ford Fiesta (five-door). Ford of Europe recently announced its decision to assign the new C-MAX model and EcoBoost engine to Valencia.
José Manuel Machado, president, Ford of Spain, said: "We are very proud of this milestone. Although sales in the depressed Spanish market remain weak, we keep gaining clients and increasing our market share thanks to our outstanding product range."
For Antonio Adés, Manufacturing manager, Ford of Spain, Valencia's competitiveness is based on "pursuing excellence, one of Ford's main strengths in our search of a leading position in the automotive industry."
Since it opened in 1976, the Valencia Assembly plant has played an important production role for Ford of Europe and continually updated its processes, production methods and logistics, boosting Valencia's economy along the way. The Ford of Spain facility has become a key economic pillar in the province of Valencia, thanks to the 6,180 workers it employs, the auxiliary industries that have been created in the adjacent industrial park - Juan Carlos I - and the overall economic development it has brought to the region.
To date, the Valencia plant has built 4,763,357 Fiestas, 1,098,393 Escorts, 444,406 Orions, 1,462,997 Kas, 2,068,905 Focus, and 161.942 Mazda2s – for a total of 10,000,000 Ford and Mazda vehicles 'Made in Spain'.