February 18 (SeeNews) - U.S. automaker Ford plans to partially move the production of its Fiesta model from Germany's Cologne to its factory in the Romanian city of Craiova in a bid to lower production costs, German newspaper Bild reported.
Ford will cancel the night shift at the Cologne plant in 2017, when the production of the new Fiesta version will start, and relocate the operations to the Romanian plant, Bild said on Monday citing a company source.
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With the move Ford allegedly seeks to make use of significantly lower wages and energy costs in Romania. German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said on Friday the 5.0 euro ($6.87) pay per hour in Craiova is equal to only 10% of the company's labour costs in Germany. Thus, a Fiesta made in Romania costs 1,300 euro less than a car manufactured at the German plant.
With some 4,000 workers, the factory in Craiova assembles Ford's five-seat van B-Max.
Ford did not comment on the information, Bild said.
The U.S. company has incurred billions of losses in its European business during the automotive crisis on the continent which led to a sales drop of 25% since 2007.
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