Whilst waiting for my new Fiesta I saw the new car sales figures for Sept and did some rough calculations.

Sales of new Fiesta approx 200,000 per year

Built in 2 plants so 100,000 per plant

Assume build for 300 days per year

Each plant knocks out 278 per DAY - and that's just for the UK

So each one only takes 5 minutes to build if all output is just UK

Not too surprising things may fall off.

Interesting that you've broken it down in this way lol

It's not unusual for a car plant to churn out 1 unit in less than 5 minutes. Luckily the quality standards nowadays are so high that fewer things (if any) are falling off compared to say, 20 years ago, when half the production line was probably nipping off for a !Removed! every 20 minutes or going on strike lol

Which plants are they built at and do they both make all model variants or does one plant exclusively build specific models, such as diesels or Zetec S for example?

Do they really have two plants dedicated to the UK market? That's a LOT of throughput for RHD vehicles, considering we're pretty much one of the few countries that are RHD.

They finish one every 5 mins, but it takes alot longer than that to actually build.

The assembly line(s) are made up of many stations. Each car will either stop, or travel very slowly through each station taking something in the region of 5 mins to complete each one.

There could be 10s or even over a hundred individual stations with a group of 4 or 5 people or robots completing the tasks.

The total build time will then actually be a few hours, but the end of the line will always be spitting out a new car every few minutes.

Do they really have two plants dedicated to the UK market? That's a LOT of throughput for RHD vehicles, considering we're pretty much one of the few countries that are RHD.

I think the 2 plants (Germany and Spain) make Fiestas' for all of Europe. My figures were assuming just for the UK. If they really make 3-5 times as many it's really impressive.

I think the 2 plants (Germany and Spain) make Fiestas' for all of Europe. My figures were assuming just for the UK. If they really make 3-5 times as many it's really impressive.

Just found from Google

The Cologne plant has the honour of being the first Ford assembly facility in the world to build the new car. In January 2009, the Valencia plant in Spain will also begin to manufacture the new Fiesta. The production facilities for new Fiesta outside of Europe will be Nanjing in China, Rayong in Thailand and Cuautitlàn

Which plants are they built at and do they both make all model variants or does one plant exclusively build specific models, such as diesels or Zetec S for example?

The cars VIN number will tell you what factory that the car was made in. On the older fords it was the first 3 letters but I am not sure on the newer cars, but the VIN will have that detail somewhere.

Which plants are they built at and do they both make all model variants or does one plant exclusively build specific models, such as diesels or Zetec S for example?

The cars VIN number will tell you what factory that the car was made in. On the older fords it was the first 3 letters but I am not sure on the newer cars, but the VIN will have that detail somewhere.

Most of the Fiestas here were built in Valencia and Cologne.

It takes 8 hours to build 1 fiesta.

but using JIT means you can knock them out constantly.

Whilst waiting for my new Fiesta I saw the new car sales figures for Sept and did some rough calculations.

Sales of new Fiesta approx 200,000 per year

Built in 2 plants so 100,000 per plant

Assume build for 300 days per year

Each plant knocks out 278 per DAY - and that's just for the UK

So each one only takes 5 minutes to build if all output is just UK

Not too surprising things may fall off.

Nothing has fallen off mine!

Cologne builds 1900 units a day,so I make that one every 45 seconds by your theory

spain "Knocks out" (your words--I prefer assembles),800-900 units a day.

dave

...and not one of them mine.

...and not one of them mine.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Seriously though, what's taking so long? I swear you ordered yours around the same time as paulworthings.

...and not one of them mine.

3 and a half months? are you sure they are gonna make it?

3 and a half months? are you sure they are gonna make it?

Dunno.

I must have ordered mine from Britain's worst AND slowest Ford dealer. Since ordering on June 30th (yep - June 30th) - I've had 2 phone calls. One back in August to say it may well be delayed a little (no sh*t!) and the other about 6 weeks ago to say...it will be delayed a little bit more. I still don't have a build date - let alone a delivery date.

I'm beginning to think A]: my paperwork slipped down the back of the dealer's settee - never to be seen again; B] the Cologne factory has caught fire & burned to the ground; C] aliens have abducted my dealer & whisked him off to the planet Tharg; or D] It's such an exclusive colour that Ford have switched to only building 1 Squeeze Fiesta per month!

*sigh :(

Dunno.

I must have ordered mine from Britain's worst AND slowest Ford dealer. Since ordering on June 30th (yep - June 30th) - I've had 2 phone calls. One back in August to say it may well be delayed a little (no sh*t!) and the other about 6 weeks ago to say...it will be delayed a little bit more. I still don't have a build date - let alone a delivery date.

I'm beginning to think A]: my paperwork slipped down the back of the dealer's settee - never to be seen again; B] the Cologne factory has caught fire & burned to the ground; C] aliens have abducted my dealer & whisked him off to the planet Tharg; or D] It's such an exclusive colour that Ford have switched to only building 1 Squeeze Fiesta per month!

*sigh :(

Have you seen any Squeeze greesn in your area? Perhaps they're not allowed to have more than one per region for fear of bogeying up the highways!.