OREANDA-NEWS. Ford Sollers plant in Vsevolozhsk will resume work after the holidays on January 19th that is a week later than it was planned. According to the representative of Ford Sollers, who informed the newspaper "Vedomosti", the company was supposed to stop from December 12th to January 12th, but the time to prepare for the launch of a line in the test production of the new Ford Mondeo is not enough. The plant also stopped the work from April 7th to 15th and from April 21st to June 9th, 2014, then it moved from 2 (3) shift-mode regime to one shift. Also the assembly line was stopped from November 13th to December 1st. Last year, the company has reduced about one-third of employees (about 700 people) because of the difficult market situation and the need to adjust the production program.

The representative of the union cell of Ford MPRA says the new suspension is also connected with the fall of the ruble and the difficult economic situation, half of the components is delivered from abroad. According to him, January and February will be indicative, when the trend will become apparent this year. According to the representative of the Ford Sollers, the company will monitor the situation on the market; in accordance with it the company will make decisions about work interruptions and optimize personnel. While the new reduction in the plant, according to her, is not planned. Production volumes in 2014 and plans for 2015 are not revealed by the company. But a source at the company said that the decline in production in 2014 is comparable to the drop in sales.

According to AEB, in January-November 2014 Ford sales in Russia fell by 40% to 56,807 vehicles, the whole market - by 11.6%.

Ford is going through hard times in the Russian market, said the director of the dealership Ford “Rolf Center", Svetlana Vinogradova. "Rolf" sold 11,038 Ford cars (by 7.9% less than in 2013) for the last year. Overall, sales of "Rolf" for 2014 increased by 14.4%. Decline in sales of Ford vehicles is largely due to the updating of the model range, increases in prices of some models, as well as a general increase in competition in the segment where the brand has been strong traditionally, says Mr.Vinogradov. Economic instability influenced strongly on the sales of "popular" brands and Ford came under the influence of this trend, she said.