Ford Focus Sales in Russia Way Up

MOSCOW, Oct 6, 2003; Reuters reported that Ford Motor Co. increased Russian sales of its Ford Focus by 415 percent to 9,412 cars in the first nine months of this year, the company said on Monday.

Sales of all models available in Russia rose 218 percent to 12,841 during the same period.

"The Ford Focus is the best selling non-Russian model in the market," Henrik Nenzen, managing director of Ford Russsia said.

Ford, the world's second largest automaker, started to make the Focus family saloon outside Russia's second city, St Petersburg, in July 2002 and plans to make between 12,000-15,000 cars this year.

Nenzen has said Ford expects to sell 18,000 cars in Russia in total this year, which would give it one percent of the market. He is aiming for 10 percent of the market by 2010.

The number of new and used cars sold in Russia last year was 1.7 million -- a fraction of the combined total of 6-7 million in Germany and Britain.

Russia's AvtoVAZ has the biggest share of the new car market in Russia, with over 50 percent.

Ford also sells its Mondeo and Maverick models in Russia.