The Ford-Sollers joint venture will begin the production of the Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles in Russia next year, an official said.

“We will begin making the Ford Explorer in Russia in 2012,” Ford Sollers CEO Ted Cannis said at a ceremony marking the start of the venture.

The company did not cite any planned production volumes for 2012.

Vadim Shvetsov, head of Russia’s second-biggest automaker, Sollers, said demand for these vehicles is strong in the United States, as well as elsewhere in the world. Russia will be the second country where this model is assembled. He said the joint venture did not plan to export the vehicles.