DEARBORN, Mich. (Feb. 24) ­ The financing arm of Ford Motor Co. will provide funds for working capital and construction of Bering Truck Corp.’s new manufacturing and assembly facility in Front Royal, Va., the two companies announced yesterday.

Neither company would disclose the sum of the loan.

Bering Truck was established in 1997 to build, import, and distribute class 3-8 commercial trucks in North America. The company will combine low- and high-cabover chassis and cabs from Korea¹s Hyundai Corp. with mostly North American-style powertrains.

The first phase of a three-phase construction schedule for Bering¹s 210,000-square-foot assembly plant will be completed by late 1999, the company said. When this phase is finished, the plant will initially produce class-7 and class-8 truck models targeted primarily to construction, light hauling and regional operations. Until then, all of Bering¹s trucks will continue to be assembled in Korea under an exclusive agreement with Hyundai.

In addition, Ford Credit, under a PRIMUS commercial private label, will offer financial products for Bering’s dealers including dealer floor plan, retail financing, and lease financing.

Bob Labadie, director of commercial lending services for Ford Credit, said the agreement “represents an opportunity to aggressively expand our financing programs in the commercial lending market.”