Ford Motor Co. is to spend ¤675 million (US$930 million) on developing a former Daewoo car factory in Romania into a major facility for its vehicle and engine production requirements, the company said Monday, according to AP. Ford is the only bidder for the Craiova-based plant, which is being sold by the government. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company has pledged in its offer to buy the factory to increase production from about 24,000 cars and 116,000 engines last year to 300,000 cars and 300,000 engines, according to a company statement sent to The Associated Press. The number of employees would also increase from 3,900 to between 7,000 and 9,000. «We are excited about the opportunity for Craiova. But there is still much hard work to be done before a final agreement is reached,» Ford of Europe President and CEO John Fleming said in the statement. Ford's investments to upgrade and modernize the site would reach ¤1 billion euros (US$1.37 billion)by 2012, he added.
