The Ford Focus is assembled in Wayne, Mich. The new Focus is among the best-selling small cars in America.

DETROIT — A year ago, Ford Motor Co.’s sprawling assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., which builds the Focus compact car, was on the chopping block as part of the automaker’s restructuring plan, putting the lives of its 3,000 workers in flux.

But today — as the struggling U.S. economy has consumers on the hunt for affordable, fuel-efficient cars — the 56-year-old plant and its workers are running a full-out effort: two nine-hour shifts on weekdays, plus some Saturdays to keep up with increasing demand on the redesigned Focus.

Focus sales are up 23 percent overall through March — and are now exceeding even Ford’s expectations. Last month, retail sales of the Focus, which exclude discounted fleet sales to rental-car companies and other bulk deliveries, were up 35 percent.

Now the new Focus, which is Ford’s only small car for sale in the United States, is the third-best-selling small car in America, behind the No. 1 Honda Civic and No. 2 Toyota Corolla.

“I think it’s phenomenal,” said Brian Scott, 33, a quality leader on the trim line at Wayne Assembly. He has worked for Ford for 14 years. “We’ve been pumping these cars out like crazy,” he said as a hi-lo truck whizzed by with parts for the line, which is building about 56 cars an hour. “Our morale is so high right now.”

Ford launched the new Focus in October with a new exterior, a substantially upgraded interior, as well as the optional Sync, Ford’s exclusive hands-free communications and entertainment technology, developed with Microsoft.

In all, Focus production is slated to be up 28 percent this year, compared with a year ago, said Dale Wishnousky, the plant manager at Wayne. That’s putting workers there in a mood some haven’t enjoyed for a while at Ford, which has lost $15.3 billion during the past two years.

With the U.S. economy on the brink of a recession, consumers have been on the hunt for cars like the Focus, which starts at $14,395 and gets 28 mpg in combined city-highway driving. That’s 24 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway for an automatic transmission or 35 mpg for a manual, according to federal regulators.

The Focus pulled ahead of the Chevrolet Cobalt last month for that position. The Cobalt is still within 1,000 sales of the Focus this year, but Cobalt sales have been increasing at about half the pace of the Focus. Through March, the Cobalt was up 14.5 percent.

Workers at Wayne couldn’t be prouder of the performance.

“The Focus outsold the (Toyota) Prius and (Chevy) Malibu last month,” John Jedrzejek, 58, of Westland, noted. He has worked at Ford for 35 years and now thoroughly audits the quality on two Focus cars a day.

Larry Fields, 39, has worked at Ford for 18 years and credits Ford’s management with making the right strategic decisions with the new Focus. He had not expected the vehicle to sell as well as it has, but the success has emboldened his faith in the company.

“I think Ford will be fine,” he said.

In front

Overall, Ford Motor Co. sales are slumping along with the rest of the industry: Total U.S. vehicle sales have fallen 8 percent, and Ford sales are down 9 percent. But sales of small cars are up 3.4 percent so far this year, with the Focus leading the charge.