Ford (www.corporate.ford.com) recently started production of the EcoSport small SUV at its assembly plant in Craiova, Romania.

The decision to build this vehicle in Europe rather than to continue importing it from Ford’s plant in Chennai (India) will help the company to respond to rising customer demand.

Ford group vice-president Steven Armstrong said: “EcoSport is another example of how we are growing our business on our strengths, including world-class SUVs.

"With demand growing for EcoSport — and compact SUVs in general — now is the right time to localise production in Europe to meet our customers’ needs.”

Total industry sales of SUVs in Ford’s 20 European traditional markets grew by 27% last year and accounted for more than one in four new passenger-car registrations.

Ford’s SUV sales in Europe grew by more than 30% in 2016 and have risen by 27% in the first eight months of 2017.

SUV growth also means more jobs; by the end of the year, Ford will have created another 1,700 jobs at Craiova, bringing the total workforce for both vehicle and engine production to 3,900.

Ford’s total investment in its Romanian facility, which it took over in March 2008, now exceeds 1 billion euros.