A worker lifts the bonnet of a Ford Transit van during a quality control check inside a light tunnel at the Ford Sollers production plant in Elabuga, Russia, on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. Ford Sollers produces, imports, and distributes automobiles. Ford already had halted Russian commercial van manufacturing, supply of parts, information technology and engineering support in March. It follows Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Mercedes Benz AG in making a full departure from Russia.
Ford’s business in Russia is small and has been downsized over the past three years. There were just 22,000 of its vehicles -- including Ford-branded automobiles produced by an unconsolidated affiliate -- sold there last year, according to regulatory filings.
“We at Ford are deeply concerned about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the safety of the Ukrainian people,” Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley wrote on Twitter in March.
Shares of Ford rose 1.3% to $13 as of 11:24 a.m. in New York. The stock is down about 37% this year.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker had said in 2019 it was closing three factories in Russia, pulling out of a car market where it was once a pioneer as part of a broader overhaul of its money-losing European operations. That decision was made as an economic slowdown and Western sanctions dimmed the outlook for what many automakers had long seen as a key growth market.
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