The 13 millionth vehicle to be built at Ford Genk, a Mondeo station wagon, will roll off the production line - 43 years after the plant produced its first car, a Ford Taunus 12M.

When Ford Genk celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2004, the company had already committed to bringing to the plant the next generation Ford Galaxy, together with a 'white space' vehicle and an all-new version of a Ford favourite.

In 2006 and following a 715 million Euro investment in the plant, production of the new Galaxy and S-MAX models began on Genk's new, fully-flexible production line. Previously the Galaxy had been built in Portugal and the 'white space' vehicle was the S-MAX, destined to become European 'Car of the Year' 2007.

This year, production began of the third new vehicle the company had promised the Genk workforce, the new Ford Mondeo.

The new cars are proving a hit with customers. Already this year almost 87,000 Galaxy and S-Max models have been sold.

And, even although it has only been on sale for a few months, over 56,000 new Mondeos have been sold across Europe, with many more on order with the plant.

From April 2008 onwards, the number of vehicles built per day in Genk over two shifts will increase to 1,280 from 1,230. This increase is necessary to meet the continued growth in customer demand.

Guy Martens, Genk Plant Operations Manager, said: "We are delighted that these news vehicles are selling so well. Each and every one of these models has transformed our plant into what it is today, one of the most flexible and successful production facilities of its type. And, thanks to the efforts of our workforce, one which also boasts outstanding production quality."