GM pulls out of race for Craiova factory

General Motors has pulled out of the bidding for the Daewoo factory in Craiova and is in talks with Ford Motor Co and the Renault-Nissan alliance, the other parties interested in a takeover of the facility, over conditions for the acquisition of engines built at the plant, the Financial Times reports. According to Nick Reilly, chief executive of GM Daewoo”s South Korean division, the group does not need to buy the Craiova factory, which has 3,600 employees. Reilly added that his division wanted to continue to buy 60,000-70,000 engines from the Romanian plant every year, and increase this to 100,000 a year. “Our main interest is to ensure the delivery of engines,” Reilly was quoted as saying by the British daily. General Motors hopes that the Romanian government, which is overseeing the sale of the plant, will make sure any buyer keeps supplying the engines to South Korea. Reilly added that GM was interested in investing in the modernisation of the production facilities for 1.4 and 1.6 litre petrol engines at the Craiova plant, with the amounts involved reaching several tens of millions of dollars. ZF