Ford Starts Production of New Car in Romania

The first Ford car ever made in Romania, the B-Max model, was launched on Monday at Craiova, southern Romania, in the presence of the President, Traian Basescu.

The President bought the first vehicle, a red model, saying that the B-Max was "technically two-to-three times ahead of anything that can be produced in Romania".

Basescu also praised the American car giant for choosing to invest in Romania in a difficult economic climate.

Ford agreed to pay the Romanian government €57 million in 2008 for a 72 per cent stake in the Craiova plant, which was originally bought by South Korean automaker Daewoo in the 1990s.

The company had to invest €675 million in technology and produce as many as 250,000 car units by March this year, according to the privatization contract.

But Ford recently reached a deal with the Romanian state to delay some of the investments and lower the initially agreed production level.

The company will manufacture 60,0000 B-Max units this year at Craiova, and plans to build 105,000 more next year. Most are destined for export at prices starting from €13,500.

Ford expects to sell only 15,000 to 20,000 B-Max cars annually in Romania. That figure will increase Ford’s share of the Romanian car market to almost 20 per cent.

Romania is one of the main car producers in Eastern Europe. France's Renault produces the Dacia model at a plant in Mioveni, in central Romania. The plant sold around 300,000 cars last year in Romania and abroad.

On Monday Dacia production stopped for two days at Mioveni due to economic problems.

Since 2008, the company has halted production several times and laid off almost 1,000 staff. Renault has invested €1 billion in Dacia since buying it in 1998.