Ford Saarlouis plant's 12 millionth vehicle - a current generation Ford Focus
Ford’s Saarlouis Plant in south-west Germany celebrated building its 12 millionth vehicle today – a white Ford Focus five-door model which will be delivered to a Saarlouis employee.
Opened by Henry Ford II on June 11, 1970, the Saarlouis Plant has built some of the highest volume vehicles in Ford of Europe’s history. These include Ford Capri, produced at the plant from 1971 and 1975; the Ford Fiesta, 1976 to 1980; the Ford Orion, 1983 to 1993; the Ford C-Max since 2003; and the Ford Kuga from 2008).
Saarlouis is arguably best-known as the home of the Ford Escort, 1970 to 1998, and, since 1998, the Ford Focus when the badly outdated Escort was finally replaced after more than a decade of neglect.
The plant has also built the high-performance models of the Ford Focus, such as the Focus ST, the Focus RS and Focus RS 500. The next-generation Ford Focus, which starts production at the end of 2010, will be built in Saarlouis for all western European markets. Focus and C-Max will also be assembled in North America and Asia.
Over the past decade, Ford has spent 4.35 billion Euros on the production facilities at Saarlouis, and this year will again invest several hundred million Euros.