The American automaker Ford launched on Tuesday, in Craiova, the production of the new Puma, the first hybrid vehicle built in Romania, an investment of 200 million euros, the company informs.

“Ford today marks the start of series production of the new Ford Puma at the state-of-the-art plant in Craiova, to meet the demand of customers in the fastest growing segment in the automotive industry. Provided with advanced 48-volt EcoBoost Hybrid electric drive technology, the new compact SUV inspired by the SUV range is the first hybrid vehicle made in Romania.”

Ford Puma was launched at the end of June this year and joins the extensive range of Ford SUVs and Ford crossovers in Europe, including Fiesta Active, Focus Active, EcoSport, Kuga, Edge and the new Explorer Plug-In Hybrid, according to Agerpres.

To support the production of the new Puma model, Ford started a large process of hiring of about 1,700 people last year and has invested about 200 million euro in its plant in Craiova. Ford’s total investment in Craiova amounts to about 1.5 billion euro since taking over the plant, in 2008.