Germany's Kirchhoff Returns To Craiova For Ford

05.24.2011 ZF English

Kirchhoff Automotive, one of the traditional suppliers of American manufacturer Ford, says it will invest over EUR 10 million in a facility in Romania, a plan the German company had dropped in 2009.

The announcement comes less than two months after the presentation of the new Ford B-Max, which will be assembled by Ford at the Craiova facility.

"We will invest more than EUR10 million in our new production plant close to the Ford factory, which will be ready at the end of 2011," said Andreas Heine, communication and marketing manager of Kirchhoff Automotive.

Kirchhoff Automotive is one of the key suppliers of the Craiova factory, as a producer of the chassis of the future B-Max.

"We intend to start production of chassis and body modules for the new model to be assembled at Ford at the beginning of 2012. We will have around 200 employees at the plant next year," Heine added.

The first Ford B-Max cars, assembled in the Craiova factory, will come out of the factory in the summer of this year. They will not be sold, as they are pre-series models tested by the American carmaker ahead of launching production.

Kirchhoff originally planned to build a factory for Ford Craiova in 2009, but dropped the plans at the time.