ST. PETERSBURG, March 6 (RIA Novosti) - A Ford car plant near Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg has begun production of the Ford Mondeo, a company spokeswoman said on Friday.

"We began producing the Mondeo in March at our Russian plant," Ekaterina Kulinenko said. "The first automobiles are already on their way to dealers and when they go on sale, we will announce that separately."

However, she added that due to the global financial crisis, plans to produce 25,000 Mondeo vehicles a year were likely to be revised downwards.

The plant was opened in the summer of 2002 and employs some 2,000 workers.