Ford's Russian engine of growth stalls

Automaker, which once had a 6-month backlog of orders for Focus, puts plant on extended break.

Andrew Kramer / New York Times

MOSCOW -- Hopes that Russia and other emerging markets could help support the automotive industry despite slumping performance in the United States and Europe dimmed this week as Ford Motor Co. followed Volkswagen and Renault in suspending production at its Russian assembly line.

While Ford's fortunes were less than glittering elsewhere, the automaker had deftly anticipated a surge in demand for cars in Russia over the last decade.

As sales fell in the United States, Russia remained an engine of growth for both imports and the domestically assembled sedans.

In fact, the Focus was the best-selling brand in Russia, easily outpacing its Japanese and European competition and proving Ford could do what it had struggled to achieve in the United States -- efficiently build a popular, compact family car.

Ford opened its largest dealership in Europe outside Moscow; demand exploded so quickly that the company at one point had a six-month backlog of orders for Focus cars built at an assembly plant near St. Petersburg.

The company said Monday that it would idle that plant from Dec. 24 until Jan. 21 for an extended New Year's holiday, citing poor sales; Focus sales were down 30 percent in October from a year earlier, the Interfax news agency reported.

When it opened in 2002, the Ford plant became the first fully owned foreign automobile assembly line in Russia.

Nissan, Toyota and parts makers followed, and the district around St. Petersburg now has so many plants it has become known as Russia's Detroit.