In the Saarlouis Ford plant, the serial production of the new Focus has begun. On Monday, December 6th at 11:00 a.m. , the first Focus has officially rolled off the assembly line. According to Ford, the Focus shall be the first car to be sold worldwide. Until the end of the year, the old and new models shall be produced parellel in Saarlouis. Later on, only the new third Focus generation will be produced there. Ford has invested 300 millions of euros in the production of the new Focus.

The head of Ford Germany, Bernhard Mattes, and the Saarlouis shop chairman Gilbert Hess hope that this will, for quite a long time, secure jobs for the roughly 6500 collaborates at the plant and its supplying companies alike. Of them, some are established at the Ford Industrial Supplier Park, in direct vicinity of the factory. The Ford Industrial Supplier Park was developed and constructed for Ford by SBB, Saarland Development Corporation, end of the nineties.

Additonally, components are also delivered from the sister plant in Wayne, Michigan, where the car is produced for the U.S. market. Vice versa, Ford Saarlouis is shipping building elements to the USA. The date when the Ford management will announce the launch of production of the electric Focus in Saarlouis is still inclear. To believe automotive circles, production shall be launched in Saarlouis in 2012.