Cologne plant builds its 6 millionth Ford Fiesta

The Ford Niehl Assembly Plant in Cologne has built its 6 millionth Ford Fiesta since the model started being produced back in 1979. After seven generations and 31 years of production, the three-door Vision Blue Sport edition, with a 1.6 litre Ti -VCT engine (120 PS) became the vehicle that marked the milestone.

The production of the Ford Fiesta started in Europe in 1976 and since then the brand has produced more than 13 million units in four Ford European plants, including the one in Cologne. The first car was built in Valencia, Spain in 1976 and, together with the Cologne plant, it is responsible for the building of the latest-generation Ford Fiesta.

It took ten years for Ford to reach the 1 million units production milestone of the Fiesta. In the next five years Ford would reach the 2 million units production and between the fifth and the sixth million Ford had to wait just over three years.

"The Fiesta's success speaks for itself. Its innovative design combined with state-of-the-art technology continues to be a great hit with customers," said Ken Macfarlane, vice president, manufacturing, Ford of Europe. "To achieve six million units of production is a great milestone for Niehl, and one that everyone at the plant should be justly proud of achieving. This is not just a success for Ford, but also for Cologne, North Rhine Westphalia and Germany."

Thanks to the work of 4,300 employees, the Niehl plant in Cologne has a daily production of 1,885 Ford Fiesta and Ford Fusion models daily in a flexible three-shift-system. In 2009, the plant built 406,200 cars in total – 350,500 Fiestas and 55,700 Fusions, with the majority heading for exportation.

The production of the latest-generation Fiesta started in Niehl in August 2008. Since its launch, 18 months ago, 750,000 units have been purchased worldwide, with 670,00 cars being sold in Europe.