Investments in Romania's automotive industry

The automotive industry was clearly refreshened in 2013 and foreign investors identified ways of either extending their businesses or beginning new projects. We indicate below several of the most prominent approaches to be taken into consideration as valid examples of successful initiatives.

Considered for a while a sensitive industry area, the automotive domain began to forcefully extend in our country. Romania becomes more and more engaging for auto components manufacturers who decide to open and expand their businesses within this perimeter. Their registered demands continuously improve allowing new investments and delivering lucrative opportunities in this respect. The beginning of 2013 brought a turnover increase rate of almost 4% and this definitely positive evolution was as well confirmed by the decision of several important international market participants to invest in Romania’s potential. We shall list below most significant investment approaches notable for the automotive industry in our country pointing out as well each specific field that was considered advantageous by each investor. The Polish-Dutch solution provider Bianor introduces the injection moulding techniques used to offer an alternative for the automotive industry in order to manufacture plastic components for cars reducing fuel consumption. This production site was opened in Ploiesti on July, 2013, and the investor described the overall approached as a homogenous strategy to experiment the Central and Eastern Europe market.

After opening a new steering wheel facility in 2013, the USA based company TRW, announced a new project in Roman. The supplier of automotive components and systems decided to extend their investment through an airbag factory which will be located in Roman. Their factory in Timisoara remains their largest project providing as well airbags and steering wheels. In November, 2013, Lear Corporation announced the opening of the automotive seating plant in Iasi. Their choice was strongly supported by the fact that the town of Iasi was seen as an important center active in the textile industry. In November, 2013, Continental, the German automotive supplier, launched a new research and development facility in Timisoara. The EUR 20-million investments are also complemented by the extension of the factory in Timisoara. Last year another German automotive system manufacturer, Kirchhoff Automotive, opened a new plant in Craiova.

The economic forecasts for the foreign automotive companies in Romania are generally optimistic. The automotive sector for investments focusing on car components manufacturing continues to improve and successfully delivers resources for an increasing number of business entities interested in exploring possibilities in Romania. In July 2013, Daimler announced the opening of the assembly plant providing automatic transmissions for Mercedes-Benz. The new project is located in Sebes and will probably provide 250 jobs for the area. In 2013, the Italian producer Vimercati SPA opened in Bacau a new unit delivering mecatronic parts to other automotive companies such as BMW, Fiat or Iveco. Our main purpose, through this brief presentation, is to provide convincing and successful examples of foreign investors clearly estimating the true potential of this country and obviously determined to build their approaches in a highly lucrative manner. Investments in Romania's automotive industry are to be understood as solid alternatives for various business concepts and our team, through its professional experts, offers legal counseling and additional assistance to all companies interested to initiate and develop a project of this type. Our lawyers will provide complex analyses evaluating the approach and indicating all suitable auxiliary options.