Ford Otosan wants to work closely with the Romanian authorities to develop a concrete long-term strategy that will secure the future of the automotive industry in Romania, Firat Elhuseyni, President and Site Director of Ford Otosan Craiova, said at Automotive Forum 2026, organised by Automotive Today and The Diplomat-Bucharest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company, which has been manufacturing vehicles in Romania for 50 years, is looking to build on this industrial heritage and establish a framework for the next five decades, with Government support and cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want to collaborate with the Romanian authorities and develop a concrete plan that will guarantee the future of the automotive industry in Romania. We have been proudly manufacturing cars in Romania for 50 years, and we want to build a plan for the next 50 years, in close cooperation with the Government,\u201d Elhuseyni said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that recent developments have provided encouraging signals for the future but stressed that the next major test will be the country’s upcoming budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI see very important actions and signals that things will improve in the future. From Ford Otosan’s perspective, the first checkpoint will be Romania’s budget for next year. We want to make sure that it includes concrete support for the automotive industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such measures would also be important in communicating a more positive outlook to the company’s shareholders, particularly regarding the prospects for both manufacturing and the commercial side of the automotive sector in Romania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elhuseyni warned that the lack of stability and predictability over the past two years had come at a cost to the industry, with some investment projects being postponed or redirected to other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnfortunately, over the past two years, we have lost time when it comes to stability and predictability. This has affected our sector, and some investments have been postponed or lost to other countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ford Otosan Craiova head also highlighted the increasingly competitive environment in which automotive manufacturing operates, explaining that companies are no longer competing solely against external manufacturers, but also against other plants within their own international groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday, we are not competing only with other companies, but also with other plants within our own group in different countries. At this point, it is a country-versus-country competition,\u201d Elhuseyni said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this context, having a highly competitive manufacturing facility is no longer sufficient on its own. Romania must also ensure that its wider business environment supports investment decisions, through infrastructure, predictability and other country-level competitiveness factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt does not matter if we have the best plant in the world. We also need the best infrastructure, the highest level of predictability and other elements of competitiveness at country level. This is how we can make sure that the next investments will come to Romania,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elhuseyni’s remarks underline the importance of a coordinated approach between the automotive industry and the Romanian Government, as manufacturers increasingly assess investment destinations not only on the performance of individual factories, but also on the competitiveness and stability of the countries in which they operate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ford Otosan wants to work closely with the Romanian authorities to develop a concrete long-term strategy that will secure the future of the automotive industry in Romania, Firat Elhuseyni, President and Site Director of Ford Otosan Craiova, said at Automotive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[54,24,1133],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17712,"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17709\/revisions\/17712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.automotive-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}