August 21 (SeeNews) - MHS Truck & Bus, the sole importer and service partner of Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles in Romania, and local truck and bus manufacturer Roman signed a joint venture agreement to produce multipurpose vehicle platforms for the Romanian Army, the two companies said on Tuesday.
In order to sustain production in Romania, MHS Truck & Bus will collaborate with several local suppliers in addition to Roman, the two companies said in a joint statement.
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The joint venture is expected to create over 1,000 jobs in Romania and improve the skills of the workforce involved in the army's equipment program.
The partnership in the production of military trucks, tankers, tractors, trailers and semitrailers for the needs of the Romanian Army will significantly contribute to the recovery of production of military and civilian transport platforms in Romania.
"We want to produce, in Brasov, a Romanian truck at German standards. Moreover, our strategy is to manufacture more and more components of automotive platforms in Romania as the programme grows to maturity. The final objective of the programme is to produce all militarized vehicles exclusively in our country," MHS Truck & Bus managing director, Claudia Iordache, said.
MHS Truck & Bus and Roman SA intend to run in the tender announced by the Romanian defence ministry for the procurement of approximately 3,300 trucks and trailers, the HX range of military trucks and the TG militarized commercial trucks.
Romania first produced trucks under MAN licence 47 years ago. Trucks manufactured in Brasov by Roman have been exported to countries around the globe at the time.
Roman SA is a truck and bus manufacturer from Brașov, Romania which was established after World War II.
The MHS Group through MHS Truck & Bus has represented the MAN brand in Romania for more than 11 years. Since June, it became the only importer and service partner of Rheinmetall MAN military vehicles in Romania.