A 2013 Ford Focus has become the 350 millionth Ford built during Ford Motor Company's 109-year history.
The Focus was assembled at the Ford Thailand Manufacturing (FTM) plant, which opened in May and is Ford's newest facility. The plant and the car are a part of the carmaker's "One Ford" plan, which is designed to increase global production capability while decreasing costs. The plan is Ford's attempt to more effectively standardize the manufacturing, maintenance, environmental, and logistics procedures of its plants.
Ford intends to increase its production capacity to 8 million cars a year by mid-decade.
"Producing 350 million vehicles is equivalent to producing one vehicle every 10 seconds for our 109-year history. If placed end to end, the vehicles would stretch to the moon and back - twice," John Fleming, Ford executive vice president of global manufacturing, said in a statement. "Producing this vehicle in Thailand also is significant. It underscores the power of our One Ford plan to deliver profitable growth with great products built in ultra-flexible and efficient facilities everywhere around the world."
Ford says that it will continue to expand its investment in US manufacturing. It recently expanded its production of transmissions in the US. But manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific region is critical to continued economic viability for carmakers from every country.
Of particular importance is China, which imposes heavy duties on imports, requiring companies who want to trade profitably in its market to set up local production facilities.
"China is the largest market in the world now, and it's growing at a faster pace than anywhere," Fleming said. "So when we talk about putting a global footprint in place, China is critical in it. Well, if you go back to 2006 we've invested 6.7 billion dollars in China."
The Ford Focus was named by IHS Automotive as the world's top-selling car for the first half of 2012, with 489,616 units sold. The next highest seller was the Toyota Corolla, with 462,187 sold.
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