French Aid Persuades Ford to Keep Bordeaux Plant Open

Ford Motor Co. has agreed to continue to operate a transmission factory near Bordeaux, France, and retain 1,000 jobs there for at least five years in exchange for €13 million in aid from federal and local governments.

The company is investing €125 million to prepare the facility in Blanquefort to begin making a new 6-speed automatic gearbox for compact cars in Europe and elsewhere, based on a framework agreement with France late last year.

The plant, which currently produces five-speed automatic transmissions for export, has 1,200 employees but only enough work for 300 of them. The factory's other workers receive partial company paychecks plus government unemployment checks.

Ford said in 2008 it would end production at the Blanquefort facility in 2011. Under pressure from the French government, the company sold the plant in 2009 to metal fabricator HZ Holding France SAS, which planned to make windmill components. After those plans collapsed, Ford bought back the factory in early 2011.