RPO83

Plain Dealer Auto Editor

Ford is considering building the European Transit commercial van at either the Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake or the nearby Lorain Assembly Plant.

"We are exploring building the Transit. No decision has been made. But it would be Northeast Ohio," said Sara Tatchio, a Ford spokeswoman in Dearborn.

Since Ford hasn't made a decision to go ahead, it is too soon to tell whether the Transit would add any jobs or replace the full-size E-vans that are assembled in Lorain, said Tatchio.

Officials from United Auto Workers Local 425 and Local 2000, which represent the Lorain and Ohio Assembly plants, could not be reached late yesterday.

The Transit is a popular commercial van in Europe. It is available in several sizes and either front- or rear-wheel drive. It is built in two plants, one in Belgium and one in the United Kingdom.

The Transit could be Ford's response to new competition from the Sprinter commercial van. Built in Europe by Mercedes, the Sprinter is imported and rebadged here as a Freightliner or Dodge as part of the DaimlerChrysler alliance. The Sprinter offers a small but powerful and fuel-efficient diesel, and Ford has little in North America with which to seriously counter it. But the European Transit is also available with a small diesel.

Tatchio said she is not certain how quickly Ford will make a decision. However, observers noted Ford might want to decide by early this summer, when negotiations with the national United Auto Workers are scheduled to begin.

The prospect of bringing the Transit to North America could give Ford some extra leverage at the bargaining table as it hopes to pare jobs elsewhere.

If Ford goes ahead with the Transit, it is not clear how the automaker would choose between Ohio Assembly and Lorain.

The Ohio Assembly Plant has about 2,100 employees. About 1,300 make the bodies for the big E-vans best known as the Econoline and Club Wagon. The other 800 will begin building the Ford Escape this summer. Those workers were laid off last year when the automaker discontinued the Mercury Villager and Nissan Quest because of poor sales.

Lorain has about 1,700 employees. They take the E-Van bodies from Avon Lake and install interiors and mechanical systems.

The E-Vans dominate the large-van segment in the United States. During the first four months of the year the vans had about 47 percent of the market, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

However, Dodge is no longer selling its full-size Ram van, leaving the Chevrolet Express van and GMC Savana as the major competition. The Dodge Sprinter passenger vans are being imported from Europe, but the numbers are limited. However, plans for an assembly plant in Georgia would greatly increase the volume.

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*Retired.