Ford Otosan, the leading company of the Turkish automotive industry, announced that they have reached an agreement with Ford to acquire Ford's Craiova factory in Romania. Owner of Europe's largest commercial vehicle base, Ford Otosan aims to increase its production capacity to over 900 thousand vehicles, while becoming an international production company with this agreement.
Turkey's export champion Ford Otosan, with its mission to lead the electric transformation of the automotive industry, announced its new investment of 20,5 billion TL, in which electric and connected new generation commercial vehicle projects will be implemented in Kocaeli, and in this context, a new capacity of 210 thousand vehicles. He said he would add.
Ford Otosan will produce the New Generation Courier vehicle, which it designed and engineered, and its fully electric version at its Craiova factory. In addition, it will produce the new all-electric version of Ford Puma and Ford Puma, which are already produced in Craiova, and 1.0 lt gasoline EcoBoost engines.
Ford Otosan, Europe's commercial vehicle production leader and Turkey's export champion, made a strategic move in the growth of the company and signed an agreement to purchase Ford's Craiova factory with a transaction value of 575 million Euros. In addition, the parties agreed to make an additional payment of up to 140 million Euros, taking into account the future capacity utilization rate of the facility.
With this agreement, which will enable Ford Otosan to open up to foreign operations, the ownership of Ford's vehicle production and engine production facilities in Craiova will be transferred to Ford Otosan. The van and combi versions of the new generation Transit Courier, designed and engineered by Ford Otosan, will be produced and marketed in Cravoiva by 2023 and their fully electric versions by 2024. In addition, Ford Otosan will undertake the production of the Ford Puma, Europe's best-selling passenger vehicle in 2021, which is being produced in Craiova, the new fully electric version of Ford Puma, which will be commissioned by 2024, and the 1.0-liter EcoBoost engines.
Ford Otosan announced that it would increase the capacity of its Kocaeli plants to 650 thousand vehicles with the investment announced last year. With the addition of the Craiova factory's installed capacity of 250 thousand vehicles, the total annual production capacity of the company will exceed 900 thousand vehicles, and the number of employees will exceed 20 thousand. With the completion of the agreement, Ford Otosan has 2 factories in 4 countries, as well as Transit, E-Transit, new generation 1-ton Transit Custom and its fully electric version, new Transit Courier, and new Transit Courier fully electric version, Ford Puma and new Ford Puma fully electric vehicles. It will produce Ford Trucks branded vehicles and Raccoon.
A success story in the automotive industry
Stuart Rowley, President of Ford of Europe, drew attention to the deep-rooted partnership between Koç Group and Ford Motor Company, which has been close to a century; “Ford Otosan is one of the most successful and well-established joint ventures of the global automotive industry. We are pleased to expand our strategic partnership in Ford Otosan, our joint venture with Koç Holding. I believe that our successful operation in Craoiva will reach even higher levels of success with Ford Otosan's expertise and experience, especially in commercial vehicles and electric vehicles.” he said.
Underlining that the achievements of Ford Otosan employees with their outstanding efforts have a great share in the agreement announced today, Ford Otosan General Manager Haydar Yenigün said, "As Turkey's export champion and the locomotive company of the Turkish automotive industry, Ford Otosan will lead the electric transformation of the Turkish automotive industry, We announced one of the largest private sector investments last year and said that we would increase our Kocaeli operations to a capacity of 650 thousand vehicles. Today, we are starting our global production operations by breaking new ground for our company and we are happy to realize another dream. In addition, we are excited to represent our country proudly in an international geography. Ford Otosan, which we have been working on with our colleagues for more than 60 years, is one of the most valuable publicly traded companies in Turkey. The international production responsibility that comes with this agreement, which is proof of Ford Otosan's success in flexible, efficient and high quality production, will also reinforce our title as Europe's largest commercial vehicle production base.”
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