There is still good news from the car manufacturer Ford. They do not come from Germany, where the excitement is great that the American parent company no longer wants to stand up for the losses of the Cologne subsidiary, but from Romania. In Craiova, in the southwest of the country, Ford operates a large car factory with the Turkish Koç-Holding. There is little to feel of the crisis, which is unsettling the industry, in the opposite. The signs are on growth. The number of employees in three-shift operation has climbed from 5000 to 6600, and car production reached a record level with more than 250,000 units last year. According to investments of 500 million euros, even 300,000 cars will run off the assembly line here in the future-including as many electric vehicles as possible, and thirty models have been delivered to customers all over Europe since the end of last week: the Puma Gen-E, E-Transit Courier and the E-Torneo Courier. “We proud to stand at the top of the change in the industry and to contribute to a more sustainable future,” says Güven Özyurt, the chairman of the community company Ford Otosan, at the start of sales. In Craiova, e-cars and burners also know from a ribbon Özyurt that the e-auto clientel state purchase bonuses have often collapsed. Not many customers want to put 37,000 euros on a Puma Gen-E. Flexibility is therefore very important in Craiova. The work is the only one in Europe in which cars and light commercial vehicles, equipped with combustion engine or battery, ran from a volume, says Otosan Vice-Presentine Josephine Payne, and is silent about the planned production figures. However, in Craiova burners will continue to have the upper hand, although they have raised a brand new battery montage right next to the Kuka robots paved by hundreds of orange-colored Kuka robots. The cells come from the Korean partner SK from Hungary, they are put together to form batteries on site, but it is less than one expected three years ago, says plant manager Dan Ghirisan. The capacity of 150,000 batteries will probably only be exploited this year. The neighboring engine plant is better utilized: more than 300,000 of the 1.0 liter ECO boost engines run off the band. Ford work is important for the Romanian economy, it is only logical that Ford Management also praises the plans of the EU to soften or stretch the ban intended from 2035. “But we will need additional support,” says John Davis, who coordinates the global business of electric commercial vehicles and buses at Ford. He is not only concerned with financial incentives, but also about more help in expanding the charging infrastructure. Ford Otosan is the second car manufacturer in Romania next to Dacia. The vehicle manufacturer Dacia, which has been part of the Renault Group since 1999, is still ahead with almost 310,000 cars last year. But Ford Otosan catches up quickly. You have quintupled the car production within a decade. For Romania, the work in the 300,000-inhabitant city of Craiova is a pound: “Ford Otosan is one of the most important companies in our country,” says Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu at the celebration, to which Ford invited journalists from several countries. In keeping with this, the three car models on the stage are draped behind him: in the colors blue, yellow and red – the national colors of Romania. According to the German international business agency GTAI, the Romanian automotive sector with a share of 13 percent in the gross domestic product is one of the most important sectors in the country. Companies in the vehicle industry employed the 260,000 people last year. German suppliers play a major role underneath. Ford has been working with Koç family together for almost 100 years. Management does not want to say that the employees in Craiova have earned much. Only that it is competitive salaries, above the minimum wage. Since January it has been the equivalent of 813 euros a month for a full -time position. The work in Craiova is not only important for Romania. It is, as car manager Ghirisan proudly says, the most efficient of the four production locations of the Turkish-American joint company Ford Otosan. The other three are in Turkey.Ford and the Koç family, which has bundled the largest Turkish company empire in the Koç-Holding, have been working together since 1926. 41 percent each are involved in Ford Otosan, the rest is noted on the Istanbul stock exchange. With a good ten billion dollars stock market capitalization, Ford Otosan is eight of the largest Turkish stock corporations, four places behind the parent company Koç-Holding, which comes at a good $ 12 billion. Koç has an ambitious green agenda. The market launch of the electric cars was a good occasion for founders’ grandchildren Ali Koç, Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Holding, to come to Romania and to point out the great commitment of his group in the country. The investment is 900 million euros. Koç build cars, finished refrigerators and washing machines, supplied armored vehicles for the army. A solar park is currently being created for $ 250 million, and the construction of a hospital is currently looking for the right property. Ford Otosan bought the 2022 factory for 575 million euros. Another 140 million euros in success -dependent payments are still available, confirms Barry Spendlove, Ford Europe’s CFO. More on the Themada’s work in Craiova has had an eventful history. Founded in 1976, as a joint venture between the then socialist state and the French car manufacturer Citroën, small cars were manufactured for sale at home and abroad. The business collapsed after the turn in the early 1990s. Then the South Korean mixed group Daewoo acquired the facilities, but he himself went bankrupt in 2002. The American company General Motors took over the car division, but had no use for the Romanian work and returned it to the government in 2006, before Ford took over it two years later for $ 57 million and until the resale in 2022 invested $ 1.5 billion. Almost everything has changed here since it was founded in 1976: the political and economic framework, owner, production methods and vehicle models. But one thing has remained the same despite all the upheavals: the high proportion of female employees in production. Factory manager Ghirisan says: “Half of my employees are women.”
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