Ford Romania Will Temporarily Pause Production Amid Semiconductor Chip Shortage

February 24, 2021 12:24 pm

In recent weeks, a global semiconductor chip shortage has hampered Ford’s production efforts, disrupting operations at the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant, Ford Louisville Assembly Plant, Ford Oakville Assembly Plant, Ford Chicago Assembly Plant, Ford Dearborn Assembly Plant, Ford Kansas City Assembly Plant, Ford Saarlouis Assembly Plant, and Ford Chennai Assembly Plant. Now, we can add another facility to that growing list – the Ford Craiova Assembly Plant in Romania, which produces the Ford Puma and Ford EcoSport.

Ford Romania will temporarily suspend production at its Romanian plant for eight working days starting Friday, February 26^th due to the semiconductor chip shortage that’s plaguing automakers at the moment. The automaker’s Romanian arm hopes to resume production on March 10^th. Ford Romania currently employs around 6,300 workers.

“During the eight days in which the production will be suspended, employees of Ford Craiova factory will be paid according to the agreements concluded between the company and unions, taking into account current legislation,” said Ford spokesperson Ana Maria Timis. “Globally, Ford is closely monitoring the situation and adapting its production plans to minimize the effect on employees, suppliers, customers, and dealers across Europe.”

Earlier this month, a group of 15 U.S. senators wrote a letter to the White House urging it to take action on the global chip shortage. As we reported earlier today, President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order that aims to address the shortage and invest in the domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips to reduce America’s dependency on imported chips.

Though Ford’s total production has been cut by around 20 percent as a result of this chip shortage, CEO Jim Farley recently stated that he expects the problem to rectify itself by the third quarter of 2021. In the meantime, the automaker is using what chips it has to produce its most profitable and strategically important vehicles.

We’ll have much more on the global chip shortage soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.

By Brett Foote

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.