Car producer Ford will hire 1,700 employees in its factory , in 2017, in Craiova in Southern Romania.

In April, the company announced that it would hire 976 new people for the production of the new EcoSport model in Craiova. It also plans to hire over 500 new employees to support the vehicle production area and 200 extra operators required for engine production.

Ford has also decided to stop the production of the B-MAX model in the first part of September this year. SUVs and crossovers are gradually replacing monovolume cars. It will start producing the EcoSport small SUV at its Craiova plant this fall. The investment to manufacture the new EcoSport amounts to almost EUR 200 million.

Ford has invested over EUR 1 billion in its production facilities in Romania since taking over the plant in Craiova in 2008. It currently employs nearly 2.900 people in the Romanian factory.

Over 3,000 new Ford passenger cars and commercial vehicles were registered in Romania in the first quarter of 2017, up 57% compared to the same period of 2016.

The American brand thus reached a 10.6% market share and became the top-selling import brand in the first three months of this year, according to a press release issued by the company. Only local producer Dacia had higher sales in this period.

Ford saw record sales in March, with 1,271 new registrations, representing 14.4% of the whole market.

The 2018 Ford EcoSport for the European market will see the light of day at Craiova on September 20, and will be made available with 1.0-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder and 1.5-liter TDCi four-cylinder engines.

“We aim to maintain this rhythm throughout the year as we prepare to launch two strategic new models for us in Romania, namely the new Fiesta and the highly-awaited EcoSport, which will be produced at our plant in Craiova,” said Attila Szabo, general manager of Ford Romania – National Sales Company.

Sources : autoevolution.com – romaniainsider.com