Ford has confirmed that a new light commercial vehicle will be built in Romania in 2023, with an electric version to follow a year later.
A $ 300 million investment in the Craiova assembly plant is the latest part of Ford’s goal to electrify its entire line of commercial vehicles, which will be 100% zero-emissions by 2024 in as fully electric or plug-in hybrid models. The company expects two-thirds of its commercial vehicle sales to be electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2030.
Craiova will become Ford’s third European production site to build an all-electric vehicle, following recent investments at its factories in Cologne, Germany and Kocaeli, Turkey.
“Our plan to build this new light commercial vehicle in Romania reflects our continued positive partnership with local suppliers and the community,” said Ford of Europe President Stuart Rowley. provide our commercial vehicle customers with an emissions-free future in Europe. ”
The plant currently produces the EcoSport and Puma compact SUVs, as well as Ford’s 1.0-liter ecoboost engine, and employs around 6,000 people.
Ford has already confirmed that the Transit Custom 2023 will be built in Turkey, alongside the VW Transporter as part of the Ford-Volkswagen alliance. The two vans will effectively be siblings, following an agreement between the two manufacturers aimed at increasing profits and improving economies of scale.
Commercial vehicles are a key market for both companies in Europe, but in particular for Ford, with most of its profits in the region coming from sales of Transit variants.
The merger will also see the new Transit Connect share a platform with the VW Caddy and the Ranger and Amarok vans co-developed by the two brands.
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-04-27 10:02:20
