Among the projects Ford Europe is considering are One Cotroceni Park, the newest office project in the center-west area, built by One United in the Razoare area, AFI Park next to the AFI Cotroceni shopping mall and U Center at Tineretului. Ford Romania did not provide any comment on the matter.
The opening of a shared services center would be Ford’s newest investment in Romania, after the Craiova plant. According to the sources cited, the future office should start operating in the second quarter of 2022. Ford’s most recent services office opened in Budapest in 2018 and is Ford Europe’s largest administrative center working with Ford’s European divisions and employing more than 700 people.
This year Ford also expanded its shared services center (SSC) operations in Hungary, where it now employs 624 highly skilled staff. Ford also plans to expand its business solutions department in India, where it currently employs 11,000 people. The growth in India will come at a time when by the first half of next year the Americans will close plants where they produce cars.
Ford Romania’s revenue increased by 17% to EUR2.55 billion in 2020 compared with 2019, according to Finance Ministry data. The increase comes in an extremely difficult year for the European car market, which shrank by more than 20% in 2020 due to the pandemic and its restrictions.
On the other hand, the 17% growth came as the production increased by 27% in 2020 thanks to the start of production of the new Puma SUV, assembled alongside the EcoSport.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)