Romanian President Traian Basescu said of Ford's Romanian workers: "I want to thank the workers ... With your hands and minds you have been reorganizing the workshop ... You have been loyal partners of the investors from the very beginning." Indeed -- Ford has spent a pretty penny in workforce training for the new facility, and could be creating a new market niche with the compact van outside of the sedan but before the minivan.

Over the next four years, Ford plans to make 300,000 automobiles in Romania as it hires an extra 3,000 Romanians in the process on top of the 4,000 already employed there. As American vehicle companies invest more in overseas factories and workforces, Ford's shrewd moves continue putting it ahead of the competition.

The automaker only spent $88 million back in 2007 to take a 72.4% stake in Automoboile Craiova in Romania -- and now 300,000 vehicles will be floating off the line there over the next four years. All in all, a bargain -- even with the $17 million in startup employee training costs and millions more as it hires and trains an additional 3,000 employees soon.