For the first time, a Romanian car contributes directly to Ford's giant sales



[ad_1]

today, 1:30 pm

Author:


Florentina Niţu

The Ford EcoSport, produced by Ford at the Craiova plant in New York, led to record gains in the second quarter, directly contributing to the rise in Ford sales at the European level, according to Automotive News Europe. This is the first time that a Ford car produced in Craiova directly contributes to increasing sales of European brands.

Although Brexit has affected sales of European brands at the European level, EcoSport and Kuga have driven growth. In addition, EcoSport climbs the five smallest SUVs best-selling in Europe, outperforming direct competitors such as Citroën C3 Aircross or Opel Crossland X, Fiat 500X or Seat Arona.

Ford Romania has managed to reach a turnover of 1.06 billion euros. This year, with production nearly three times higher than 2017, the company is expected to exceed 2 billion euros and climb to at least 2.5 billion euros, according to ZF dollars.

Ford EcoSport reached a volume of 380 units in the second quarter of this year, according to DRPCIV Vehicle Registration and Registration (DRPCIV). With this volume, EcoSport ranks third among the best-selling Ford models on the local market after Focus and Kuga.

The new EcoSport was able to outperform Fiesta sales in the second quarter, with Fiesta recording 374 units. The DPRCIV records do not include data from the first quarter of this year or data from 2017.

For comparison, last year, according to the Association of Builders and Importers of Automobiles (APIA), 141 cars of the older generation of EcoSport, while in 2015, first-generation EcoSport sales were 224. This year, in just a quarter, they sold almost twice as much as last year.

Ford Romania began The four-wheel drive version of the EcoSport SUV was produced last month and the factory's daily mileage increased to 700 cars a day, according to market data.

The 4×4 version of EcoSport will account for around 20% of European model production and sales, according to the source cited. If the production rate is maintained at the end of the year, at 700 cars a day, then Ford will reach a monthly average of at least 14,000 units, and the factory will ship at least 140,000 this year [19659003] At the level of small SUVs, EcoSport is one of the few four-wheel drive models. Among the competitors are the Opel Mokka X, the VW T-Roc, the Dacia Duster and the Vitara. In the segment, Duster is currently ranked third and has recorded the highest sales growth in the first half of this year, surpassing the Opel Mokka X.

According to Jato Dynamics, in the first quarter of this year, EcoSport reached In Europe Suzuki Vitara, Audi Q2, Nissan Juke and Jeep Renegade

The Americans assembled in May, according to the latest data, 13,451 Ecosport SUVs in the Muni, the highest volume ever made in the factory. In addition, Ford has already produced nearly 60,000 units in the first five months. In comparison, in 2013, the best year to date in the history of the Ford under the Ford logo, the company produced 68,000 cars. if Ford stays the course until the end of the year, Ecosport will reach 130,000 cars.

Ford Romania officially announced in May the launch in production of a second model in the Craiova Automobile Plant, the process in which it will invest an additional 200 million euros and recruit another 1,500 people, bringing the total investment to more than 1.5 billion euros and the number of employees to 5,900. According to ZF calculations, if 600 cars are currently assembled per day, the new model and a replacement introduced in addition to the existing two could reach 900 cars per day, an annual output of 218,000 to 260,000 vehicles. units, depending on the number of working days.

[ad_2]
Source link