Ford says German factory making a record 1,610 cars daily

COLOGNE, Germany November 28, 2002; Jeremy Van Loon writing for Bloomberg reported that Ford-Werke AG, the German unit of the world's No. 2 carmaker, said it's making a record 1,610 Fiesta and Fusion model cars a day at its factory in Cologne, Germany.

Maximum production capacity at the factory, which employs about 5,000 workers, is 1,800 cars daily, the company said in a faxed statement. A new Fiesta small car is now built in 16 hours compared with 24 hours for the previous model.

Ford has been increasing production of its Focus and hiring workers in Europe amid strong demand for the car. The company's European operations will increase market share this year, helped by sales of the new version of the Fiesta small car, introduced at the beginning of the month.