Ford Motor Co. has suspended its Russian joint venture operation amid the country's continued invasion of Ukraine, the Dearborn automaker said Tuesday.
"As part of the global community, Ford is deeply concerned about the invasion of Ukraine and the resultant threats to peace and stability," the company said in a statement. "The situation has compelled us to reassess our operations in Russia."
Ford CEO Jim Farley broke the news in a tweet, citing a deep concern about the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on February 24, and offering an act of support for the Ukrainian people. Farley's tweet included a longer press release, which indicates that the Ford Fund will donate $100,000 to the Global Giving Ukraine Relief Fund at an unspecified date and time.
The donation is in an effort to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to displaced Ukrainian nationals and families affected by the dramatic events of the past week.
The automaker told its joint-venture partners that it’s halting work immediately, according to a statement Tuesday. Ford had already been winding down its Russian operations, which today consist of commercial van manufacturing and Russian sales through a minority interest in the Sollers Ford joint venture, the company said.
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.
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.
