Ford Union

Ford Union

Native name	Форд-Юніён
Industry	Automotive
Founded	July 1997
Defunct	July 2000; 25 years ago (2000-07)
Headquarters	Apčak , Belarus
Area served	Great Britain, Eastern Europe and CIS
Key people	Alan Batty (CEO)
Products	Automobiles
Owner	Ford Motor Company: 51% Belarusian government: 26% Lada-OMC: 23%

The Ford Union (Belarusian: Форд-Юніён) is a former joint venture of the Ford Motor Company, the Russian Lada importer Lada-OMC and the Belarusian government. It was located in Apčak near the city of Minsk in Belarus. Ford invested a capital of US$10,000,000 for building the plant. The company existed from 1997 up to 2000 when it was closed due to low sales.^[1][2][3]

The Ford Union was not a manufacturer, it was only an assembler of SKD kits. The vehicles assembled by the Belarusian plant can be identified by the manufacturer code Y4F on the start on the VIN and an R on the eleventh position for the plant identification.^{[4][self-published source][5]}

The plant gained attention on 23 July 1997 as Belarusian president Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko was invited to a press conference with five strategically selected foreign journalists to discuss a predicted failure which later proved true.^{[citation needed]}

Model overview

• 
  Ford Transit
  1997–2000
• 
  Ford Escort
  1997–2000
• 
  Ford Escort Courier
  Ford Escort Van (GB)
  Ford Express (RUS)
  1997–2000

Sources

1. "Hell on wheels?". The Economist. 24 July 1997. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
2. "Ford To Halt Assembly in Belarus July Due To Low Demand". Autoparts Report. 2 June 2000. Archived from the original on 20 October 2004. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
3. Russel R. Miller (1998). Selling to newly emerging markets. p. 192. ISBN 1-56720-044-3. Retrieved 27 June 2024 – via Google Books.
4. "Ford Club Belarus • Просмотр темы – vin КОД". Forum.fordclub.org (in Russian). Retrieved 29 July 2010.
5. "VIN: FORD (europe)". CARInfo (in Russian). Retrieved 29 July 2010.