Ford takes over plant
Ford Motor Co. formally took over the Romanian plant Automobile Craiova from the Romanian government on Friday.
Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu handed the factory’s key to Ford of Europe President John Fleming, saying that Ford’s investment of about $1 billion would allow Romania to become the biggest car producer in southeastern Europe.
Last year, Ford bought a 72.4% stake in the government-owned company, paying about $88 million and vowing to invest $1 billion to upgrade and expand car production. Ford said it would increase the number of employees from 3,900 to between 7,000 and 9,000.
The Romanian government took over the debt-laden factory in 2006 after the previous owner, South Korea’s Daewoo Motor Co., went bankrupt in 2000.
Chrysler may be losing
Chrysler LLC may be losing money at some U.S. plants where it cut back production to prepare for a slowing auto market in 2008, the Wall Street Journal said.
Chrysler moved to one shift per day at four U.S. plants, and three other factories will change to two shifts from three. The automaker needs to make better use of those plants to meet CEO Bob Nardelli’s goal of generating more cash and returning to profitability, the newspaper said.
