Ford Wants Automobile Craiova Deal Revised

„On the backdrop of the global economic and financial crisis, which has dramatically affected carmakers, Ford requested several clauses in the privatization contract be reanalyzed,” Romania’s privatization authority AVAS said in a draft government decision.

If approved, the bill would allow setting up an interministry committee to start negotiations with Ford. The U.S. automaker is expected to present a series of amendments to the contract once the committee is founded.

Ford paid Romania EUR57 million for a 72.4% stake in the Craiova-based plant.

The European Commission investigated the deal and subsequently concluded Romania accepted a smaller price for the plant in exchange of Ford’s pledge to produce over 250,000 cars in Craiova by 2011 and to create additional jobs.

Romania was found to have granted Ford illegal state aid worth EUR27.56 million and the Commission asked the government to recover the amount from the U.S. carmaker.

Later, the Commission approved a state aid worth EUR143 million for a project Ford plans to develop in Craiova, as well as EUR57 million in aid for staff training at the Romanian plant.

End-April, Ford Romania started production of the Transit Connect model at its Craiova plant. Before that, Ford had assembled only 400 Transit Connect compact panel vans using parts shipped from Ford’s Turkish plant.

The automaker is slashed to start production of the B-Max small-class model at Craiova later this year.