Romania's Government approves new deadline for Ford to reach production targets

American car producer will have another eight years to reach the promised production level in Romania. The Finance Ministry will allow the company to produce 810,000 cars and 1.5 million engines by the end of 2025 instead of December 31, 2017. In 2012, Ford received a state aid of EUR 75 million, with the condition of reaching those production targets by the end of 2017. Ford can now deliver the promised production later, but only if it carries out an additional investment of EUR 130 million. The money has to come from the company’s own sources, without any state help involved. Of the total amount, EUR 100 million will to be used to produce a new car model in Craiova whereas EUR 30 million will be used for engine production. Jim Farley, the head of Ford Europe, announced in March that Ford would produce the new EcoSport small-size SUV in the Craiova plant starting the fall of 2017. The model would be traded all over Europe, except for Russia. The total investment amounts to EUR 200 million, according to Farley. editor@romania-insider.com