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The Ford plant in Craiova is headed for an electric future and I am very confident in the plans the new owner Ford Otosan has for the facility, Economy Minister Florin Spataru said on Friday while on a visit to Dolj County during which he met with Craiova site director and Ford of Romania president Josephine Payne and other members of the company's management to discuss solutions for the auto industry to implement in order to overcome the semiconductor crisis and Europe's dependence on critical materials, as well as the opportunities carried by the transition to electromobility.
"Today I had the opportunity to continue the excellent dialogue with the Ford management, at an extremely important time for both the company and Craiova. I am very confident in the plans the Ford Otosan management has for the Craiova plant once the transfer of ownership is finalized. The Craiova facility is headed for an electric future, and the transition to electromobility is a major goal I, in my capacity as Minister of Economy, support with all my efforts," Florin Spataru said as cited in a release, Agerpres.ro informs.
In her turn, Josephine Payne pointed out that Ford Craiova is going through its best period, despite semiconductor supply difficulties and the war in Ukraine, and is preparing for the shift to electrification.
"We are very pleased with the visit of Economy Minister Florin Spataru to the Ford plant in Craiova. This visit once again confirms the close partnership between Ford and the Romanian government and marks another important step towards building a stronger future for the local auto industry. During today's visit we took the opportunity to inform Minister Spataru about the way our business is changing and the challenges facing our industry. Despite the current context, we are focusing our efforts on the bright future of the Craiova factory, which will continue to play a key role in Ford's plans to create a sustainable all-electric future. The ownership transfer process from Ford to Ford Otosan is underway and we expect it to be completed in the third quarter," said Josephine Payne.
The Craiova plant is preparing to launch in 2023 and 2024, respectively, the production of three new models: Ford Transit Courier and Ford Tourneo Courier (both in electric and internal combustion versions), and the all-electric Ford Puma. Diversifying its product range will confer the Craiova plant a high degree of flexibility and therefore a much faster ability to adapt to market changes.
"Romania's auto industry output is significant, due to the two big factories and also to the very well-developed horizontal industry. After all, the auto industry generates over 24 percent of Romania's GDP," said Minister Spataru, who discussed during the visit to the Ford plant solutions that could be implemented to reduce supply chain bottlenecks and opportunities and challenges related to the future development of the plant.
On March 14 Ford announced that Ford Otosan, one of the longest running and most successful joint ventures in the global auto industry, will take over the Ford plant in Craiova starting with the third quarter of 2022, following a transfer of ownership. Given its senior executive representation on the Ford Otosan board, Ford said that it will continue to maintain strong shared oversight of the joint venture and therefore also for the Craiova operation.
Ford Otosan management of Craiova is expected to also better facilitate knowledge transfer with increased vertical integration of battery technology and can also draw on the company's extensive and cost-effective supplier network, the release said.
Ford Motor Company's investments in the Craiova assembly plant since 2009 amount to roughly 2 billion euros, having rolled out one million vehicles and more than 1.5 million engines throughout this time.
Currently, the Craiova Ford plant produces in parallel the Puma model, which is Ford's best-selling small class SUV in Europe, the EcoSport model, as well as the 1.0 l EcoBoost engine. Ford also announced in March that the production of the Ford EcoSport small sports utility vehicle will end later in 2022, as Craiova focuses increasingly on a future built on commercial and electric vehicle growth.
