FORD Buys DAEWOO Romania Factory

[csv8]

Ford plans 'one of Europe's biggest car plants'Article from: Agence F
July 17, 2007 04:24am

THE US car maker Ford said overnight it planned to build one of the biggest car plants in Europe in Romania by upgrading a factory that once belonged to the South Korean group Daewoo.

Ford's European director John Fleming told Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu the company was committed to building 300,000 vehicles and 300,000 engines per year at the plant in the southern town of Craiova from 2011.

This would make it "one of the biggest car plants in Europe", the group said.

Ford planned to invest €675 million ($1.07 billion) to upgrade the factory, which in 2006 under its former owners made 24,000 cars and 116,000 engines.

Mr Fleming said the US group would double the number of employees at the plant to between 7000 and 9000.

The Romanian government is selling a 72.4 per cent stake in the company and Ford is the sole bidder for the plant.

Ford did not disclose the price it had offered to pay for the shares.

Two other groups, General Motors and JC Russian Machines, had expressed interest in the plant but declined to make formal offers.

In August last year, Romania paid $US60 million ($69 million) for a 51 per cent holding in the facility that had belonged to Daewoo, which declared bankruptcy in 1999.

The South Korean company had paid $US156 million dollars for a majority stake in the plant in 1994, and had invested another $US850 million to modernise it.

The planned investment by Ford follows a trend in the car industry of shifting production to eastern Europe, where production costs are low.

French car maker Renault, which owns the Romanian car maker Dacia, is using Romania as a base to build a successful low-cost car for emerging markets.

To the north, Slovakia has emerged as the eastern European centre of the automobile sector, with Volkswagen, Peugeot and Kia among the major manufacturers

[vztrt]

Should go well with their plant in Turkey.

[Mark351]

Turkey makes Transits!

[mcnamg]

Poland Makes Mondeos

Maybe new plant is for the new Offroader they were building

[The Stylist]

Originally Posted by mcnamg

Poland Makes Mondeos

Poland sounds new to me, to my knowledge the Mondeo has always been made in Genk, Belgium.

[outback_ute]

So the big question is, what is going to close for this plant to replace? Ford has too much excess production capacity as it is.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by outback_ute

So the big question is, what is going to close for this plant to replace? Ford has too much excess production capacity as it is.

Ford has plants in South Africa and Vietnam, these are closer and would be used if Oz were to close.

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Ford has plants in South Africa and Vietnam, these are closer and would be used if Oz were to close.

Did you say If........."shouldn't that be When?"

[sexr6tasy]

Will the new ford cars do 300 hectres on a single tank of kerosene? lmao

[phillyc]

Originally Posted by robjh80

Did you say If........."shouldn't that be When?"

Don't be so negative about Ford Oz closing. People starting garbage like that, is why companies like Mitsubishi Oz have had trouble.

FYI Have a look at the recent expected announcement that Ford Oz will become the global RWD platform development centre (modelling what GM have done with Holden)

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mel...A25731B0008FC6C

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=109068

[outback_ute]

I wasn't referring to Australian plants closing, it would be more likely that plants in the UK or Germany would go.

[phillyc]

Originally Posted by outback_ute

I wasn't referring to Australian plants closing, it would be more likely that plants in the UK or Germany would go.

Ford Europe is going really well and is profitable.

http://media.ford.com/newsroom/relea...?release=26357

FORD OF EUROPE'S FIRST-HALF SALES RISE 4.6 PERCENT

June sales increase by 1.2 percent to 169,000
First-half sales rise 4.6 percent to 952,500
COLOGNE , July 13, 2007 – Ford of Europe's acclaimed new models continue to make an impact in the market, contributing to increased sales in June and the first half of the year.

With strong performances across its model range, Ford of Europe's sales in the first-half of 2007 increased by 4.6 percent, to 952,500, representing a market share of 8.9 percent. Across its main 21 markets, Ford of Europe sold 169,000 vehicles in June, an increase of 1.2 percent, and gained a market share of 8.4 percent.

Car sales for the month totalled 134,365, led by the in-demand Focus and Fiesta. The Car of the Year S-MAX continues to win customers, as well as the Galaxy, which is leading its segment. The all-new Mondeo went on sale for the first time in selected markets and sold 8,800 units.

Impressive performances by the award-winning Transit van and the Ranger pick-up brought record June commercial vehicle sales of 34,670 units.

Britain remained Ford of Europe's biggest market in June, selling 38,875 units, followed by Germany (20,570), Spain (19,700) and Italy (19,670). The company's success in Russia continued in June with sales more than doubling, to 13,200.

"We go into the second half of the year buoyed by the continuing strength of our model range and, particularly, the increasing impact of our newest models. After receiving outstanding media reviews, the all-new Mondeo went on sale in June and got off to a strong start, selling almost 9,000 units. We expect to see that figure rising sharply in the months ahead," said Stephen Odell, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Europe. "Overall, we are looking forward to continuing our success in the second half, when we plan to announce yet further new models."


Ford's sales data includes both passenger cars and commercial vehicles from its 21 major European Sales Companies, including Russia and Turkey. Market share excludes Russia .

[AU-MUSTD]

HAHAHAHAHA What drum will you guy's bang now about holden. Maybe it'll be where the new ford daewoo territory will be built. HAHAHAHA

[new2ford]

Romania.... that would be the production centre for the new Ford Dracula wouldn't it?

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by phillyc

Don't be so negative about Ford Oz closing. People starting garbage like that, is why companies like Mitsubishi Oz have had trouble.

"Garbage" is it........I take it you obviously haven't turned on the TV or picked up a newspaper today then.

The "basic" underlying reason manufacturing companies as a whole in this country, never mind auto makers, are in difficulty is due to the import tariffs being reduced to create this fiction called "level playing field" in a "global economy" and hence local companies not being able to competitively compete with cheaper manufacturing facilities offshore.........not because of comments such as mine.

If you are one of the those in our society that persistantly and unfortunately believe that Australia still to this day has a beneficial and optimistic manufacturing sector, then I'm afraid you are only kidding yourself and burying your head in the sand............look around you, "it's over",..... what was once a fine and prosperous sector employing many hundreds of thousands of hard working men and women is now finished, thank your fine and upstanding politicians for that fact!!, dont try and lay blame at the feet of those who see the reality.

[UHW]

.....great, somewhere to make the next falcon....

[marcosambrose]

Ahhh the typical cynicism of this forum comes out far too easily sometimes.... py:

I'm very sure it will be used to produce a new vehicle, the X-MAX is coming out soon but the all new focus due in 2009-10 could also be a possible candidate.

On top of that, there is a possibility the plant could be used as the base for hybrid and dual fuel cars in the future for Ford Europe.

anyone that likes the European branch of Ford, check out: www.fordeurope.net - and head over to forums, good place to check out the latest news over there.

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by robjh80

"Garbage" is it........I take it you obviously haven't turned on the TV or picked up a newspaper today then.

The "basic" underlying reason manufacturing companies as a whole in this country, never mind auto makers, are in difficulty is due to the import tariffs being reduced to create this fiction called "level playing field" in a "global economy" and hence local companies not being able to competitively compete with cheaper manufacturing facilities offshore.........not because of comments such as mine.

If you are one of the those in our society that persistantly and unfortunately believe that Australia still to this day has a beneficial and optimistic manufacturing sector, then I'm afraid you are only kidding yourself and burying your head in the sand............look around you, "it's over",..... what was once a fine and prosperous sector employing many hundreds of thousands of hard working men and women is now finished, thank your fine and upstanding politicians for that fact!!, dont try and lay blame at the feet of those who see the reality.

Excellent spot-on post robjh80. Also not only politicians, but Australian consumers who have increasingly shunned Australian-made goods in favour of "bargains". Never mind the consequence of closing the doors on their children's future in this country - unless those genius politicians find some wizbang means of fully employing Australians on meaningful wages cleaning 5 star hotels for foreign tourists etc.