11 July 2001: A new production system for the upcoming new Ford Fiesta involves suppliers 'sharing the risk' with the new car, in the process saving Ford money and helping the company in its European profits turnaround.

Suppliers will own equipment for component manufacture installed in the Cologne production plant and will charge the carmaker for their inputs every time a car rolls off the production line. This means Ford has less capital tied up in the plant, and reduces its component stock inventories.

A supplier park has been built beside the Cologne plant where doors, engines, transmissions and gearboxes are assembled by contractors and shipped on a conveyor belt to the Fiesta line as needed.

Ford Europe president David Thursfield says the new Fiesta, due to start production later this year, will 'have the same impact' on the company's European fortunes as had the Focus and new Mondeo.

The division's market share dropped to 10.8 percent in 2000 from 11.7 percent in 1999. Thursfield is confident that the brand can get back to the 12 percent-plus share it held in the mid-nineties. BB