Ford appoints first Romanian at the helm of its sales and marketing operations in Romania

Cristian Prichea, 34, is the new general manager of Ford’s National Sales Company in Romania, replacing Attila Szabo, who in turn was named general manager of Ford Hungary and Ford Czech Republic, Ford Romania announced. Prichea is the first Romanian appointed at the helm of Ford’s sales and marketing operations in Romania.

Szabo led Ford's local sales and marketing operations since 2016, and since January this year he has also been supervising the Czech Republic operations.

Cristian Prichea is an economist in mechanical engineering, a graduate of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, and has been working for Ford Romania since August 2010 when Ford established the National Sales Company in Bucharest. He has held various positions in the company’s marketing department in this period, and in 2015 was appointed sales director at Ford Romania. From 2016 until now, he has worked for Ford Europe at the headquarters in Cologne (Germany), in the department coordinating Ford’s sales at European level.

Ford will start producing a new model at its factory in Craiova, Romania, this year, namely the Ford Puma crossover. The carmaker also produces the EcoSport model at the Romanian plant, as well as the EcoBoost engine. Ford's total investment in Romania amounts to approximately EUR 1.5 billion, of which EUR 200 million has been invested to support the production of the new Puma.

Ford Romania currently has 4,900 employees and wants to increase the number to 6,300 by the end of this year, to support Puma's production.

(Photo source: Ford Romania)