Madrid, July 1: Ford Espana, the Spanish unit of Ford Motor Co confirmed on Tuesday it will invest $290 million to start production of the new version of the Escort model at its Almussafes plant in Valencia.

``Investments for the new Escort will reach $290 million in Almussafes ,'' a spokeswoman said following local press reports.

Later on, Ford would add further details in a statement, she said.

The Spanish factory, where currently the Ka cars and the old Escort model are produced, will make the new versions of the Escort together with the German factory in Saarlouis.

The Almussafes factory's staff has 8,040 workers compared with Saarlouis' 6,000.

The Valencia plant can produce 1,100 Ka cars and 460 old model Escort cars daily.

According to a report in La Gaceta de los Negocios, Ford has not yet decided which versions of the new model will be produced in Spain nor the additional number of workers which will be needed.The spokeswoman declined to comment on other press reports saying Ford Espana asked official permission for 7,650 temporary lay-offs for a maximum of 21 working days.Supporting this last request, according to the press report, Ford said selling of the new Ka cars were below targets. Ford was said to have sold only 80 per cent of the 146,700 cars it was expecting to sell between September 1996 and May 1997.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.