|
RRI newsletter subcription
(e-mail address):
|
 |
Archives:
|
|
| FORD INVESTS IN ROMANIA(17.07.2007) |
| (2007-07-17) |
| Last updated: 2007-07-18 15:58 EET |
Craiova Automobile Company is currently the second largest car manufacturer in Romania, after Dacia company in Pitesti, southern Romania, which was taken over by the French car manufacturer Renault in the ‘90s.
Ford, the third largest car manufacturer in the world, on Monday presented its technical tender offer for acquiring the majority parcel of shares in the Craiova-based factory from the Romanian state. Far more generous than the conditions imposed by the Romanian authorities, the Americans’ plans provide for doubling the number of employees and producing 300,000 vehicles and 300,000 engines, as of 2012. John Fleming, President and CEO “Ford of Europe”, said that direct investment would stand at 675 million euros, while total expenditures in Romania would reach one billion in five years.
Economic analysts say that, once the transaction completed, Romania will become the most important car manufacturer and one of the most dynamic car exporters in South-Eastern Europe.
The history of the factory in Craiova, which, out of habit, Romanians still call Daewoo, is an illustrative example of the Romanian economic transition. The Olcit factories in Craiova were founded, just like Dacia, during the communist regime, based on a French-Romanian partnership. Instead of Renault, the partner back then was Citroen. More modest than Dacia, Olcit still had its loyal customers, in the very restrictive ‘80s, when gasoline was rationalized and people could only drive every other Sunday, according to their licence number – odd or even.
After the December anti-communist revolution, the company was re-branded, on the backdrop of the ephemeral South-Korean expansion throughout Europe, being taken over by Daewoo. The takeover was initially a success story. In less than a decade, 250,000 cars were manufactured at the Craiova factory. But eventually Daewoo Romania felt and echoed the effects of the agony the Seoul holding was going through. The bankruptcy of the mother-company caused a severe decrease in the market share controlled by the Romanian branch, from 19% in 2004 to a mere 8% in 2005.
For a total of 50 million dollars, last year Romania bought back the stocks from the South-Korean company and was again the sole owner of the Craiova car factory. Being aware of its bad record as an administrator, the Romanian state announced that it would open the re-privatization procedure with a strategic investor. And this investor might be Ford.
(Bogdan Matei)
|
|
| |
WMA |
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
128kbps : |
1
2
3
|
| |
MP3 |
|
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
128kbps : |
1
2
3
|
| |
AAC+ |
|
|
48kbps : |
1
2
3
|
|
|
64kbps : |
1
2
3
|
 Historical mascot of
RRI |
| |
© 1999 - 2011 Copyright Radio Romania International |
|
2025-04-03
Print
Listen again