John Fleming, the chairman of Ford Europe, the owner of Automobile Craiova, says the first wave of recruitment for the production centre in Oltenia will start in 2010, because the current number of employees covers Ford's production volumes at present.
"The number of employees at present is sufficient enough to produce the Transit Connect utility vehicle, which will start in 2009. We'll most likely start boosting the number of employees in 2010, after the future small-class model starts being manufactured," stated Fleming in an interview with ZF in Moscow.
At present, 3,900 people work at that plant in Craiova, but Ford plans to reach a total of 7,000-9,000 employees when production of the small-class model is launched. According to the Ford chairman, the employees at the Craiova plant have started training programmes, with most of them being trained at the plant. At the same time, there are also employees following training programmes at Ford's plants in Cologne, Germany.
In 2009, the production of Transit Connect in Craiova will reach 30,000 units, with the volume set to increase to 50-60,000 units in 2010. In 2012, the Craiova plant's output will amount to 300,000 units, with 90% set to go to foreign markets, according to the information provided by the US company. Last year, almost 19,000 cars were assembled at the Craiova plant and at full capacity the plant can manufacture 150,000 vehicles per year.
At present, the biggest employer in automotive manufacturing is French group Renault, which employs over 11,500 people at Automobile Dacia.
The assembly line at the Craiova plant is being redesigned and new production equipment has been ordered, while the plant continues to manufacture engines and transmission systems for General Motors.
"At present, we're considering several possibilities for the production of a new engine and Craiova is on the list of possible locations," said Fleming, but did not specify the type of engine.
Ingvar Sviggum, deputy chairman at Ford Europe, in charge of marketing and sales, says Ford sales on the Romanian market will go beyond the 28,000-unit mark, and could even reach 30,000 units.
"Ford's sales in Romania have registered strong growth this year, particularly in H1, compared with the overall market, which slowed down," said Sviggum.
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