Ford said on Thursday it would invest €550 to €600 million ($US701.6 million) at its Belgian Genk plant – facing 3,000 job cuts – to make the next generation of three Ford brands, Reuters reported.
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“Genk now [has] three important new products on which it can build a positive future,” John Fleming, the vice president of manufacturing of Ford Europe, said in a statement cited by Reuters.
Along with the new model of the Mondeo brand, which was announced earlier, the plant will produce the next generation of the Galaxy [currently built at a joint venture with Volkswagen in Portugal] and another unidentified model, Reuters said.
Ford Belgium spokesman Wilfried Baeken told Reuters production of the new version of the Mondeo mid-size car will start in 2006 but could not provide details on the timing of the start of production of the two other models.
Reuters noted that, last month, Ford Genk announced it would cut the jobs at the plant in eastern Belgium amid slumping sales and cut-throat price competition.
The unit will have a future annual production of some 300,000 cars, the report added.
