BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - U.S. car maker Ford is considering building an assembly plant in Slovakia, the economic daily Hospodarske Noviny said on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.þþHospodarske Noviny said the new factory would be located in an industrial park near the eastern Slovak town of Kechnec, where a Ford-Getrag joint venture already makes gear boxes.þþÿWe are negotiating with a renowned producer, which is planning to make higher-class cars in the east,ÿ the daily quoted Kechnec Mayor, Jozef Konkoly, as saying.þþÿIt would an investment worth tens of billions of crowns, and creating hundreds of jobs,ÿ Konkoly told Hospodarske Noviny.þþKonkoly did not disclose the name of the potential investor, though the paper said unnamed sources had identified it as Ford. The mayor and state officials negotiating foreign investment deals were not immediately available for additional comment.þþSlovakia, a small ex-communist European Union member, has become a favorite location for car industry investors in recent years thanks to low taxes, cheap labor and proximity to eastern and western markets.þþSouth Korea's Kia Motors <000270.KS> and France's PSA Peugeot Citroen began production in new Slovak assembly plants in 2006, joining Germany's Volkswagen AG , which has had a factory there for over a decade.þþ
Source: NY Times
