Ford Sollers, a joint venture company formed by Ford and Sollers in Russia, is set to establish a new research and development center in Russia.
Operations of this new center will be integrated into Ford's global Product Development function.
The center will also adapt Ford vehicles for the Russian market, including unique engineering, support of localization, testing, development of local versions of light commercial vehicles and homologation.
The new R&D activities will be based in three locations including, Moscow, Tatarstan and Leningradskiy.
The Leningradskiy region will support volume production and quality management, while engineers in Tatarstan will handle the development of light commercial vehicles for the local market.
Local versions of light commercial vehicles will enable Ford Sollers to extend Ford's presence in the country's light commercial vehicles market.
The R&D center in Moscow will lead Ford Soller's overall R&D activities in Russia, and will be responsible for the localization of content process in Russian-built Ford vehicles, supplier support, program management, testing, homologation and the overall R&D coordination process.
The company will employ approximately 150 new employees at the new Ford Sollers R&D activities by the end of 2014.
Ford global product development group vice president Raj Nair said that Russia is one of the dynamic markets for the Ford brand anywhere in the world in terms of its size and specific product demands.
"That's why setting up R&D in Russia integrated into our global product development system is another important step in Ford's brand development in Russia," Nair added.
