His job may continue however, even after the first Ford model will exit the factory gates, in 2008. The current management will also be maintained indefinitely.
“The person managing the transition process will be a Spaniard, but there will be others as well, from Great Britain and Germany,” Ford of Europe’s Director for Business Strategy, Lyle Watters, told Business Standard. He declined to mention the name of the future manager, nor his or her current position in Ford of Europe.
The first wave of experts will live in the apartment building formerly owned by Daewoo in the central side of the Craiova city, taken over by the U.S. company. Automobile Craiova was purchased by South-Korean producer Daewoo
in 1994, and bought back by the Romanian state following Daewoo’s bankruptcy. “Acquiring the building was a key-element in the negotiations, as we need it, to be able to bring experts rapidly from abroad. We have bought one half of this building and leased the other half,” Watters added. One week ago, in Frankfurt, Germany, Ford signed the contract for acquiring the Craiova automobile factory for €57 mln. The price offered by Ford for the 72.4 percent share package is several times lower than the value of Automobile Craiova lands, which continue to be state-owned.
