October 3 (SeeNews) - Italian industrial group Pirelli has said that it plans to invest 200 million euro ($224.7 million) at its tyre plant in Slatina, in southern Romania, by 2021 in order to increase production at the plant by 50%.
Pirelli plans to increase the plant's output to 15 million units per year from current 10 million, thus creating 500 new jobs.
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The planned investment will take total investment by the Italian tyre maker in the Romanian plant to around 740 million euro, Pirelli said in a press release on Friday.
“Over this decade, Pirelli has never stopped growing. This is not only because of the strategic location of the Slatina plant, which for Pirelli represents a key logistics and commercial hub for all of Eastern Europe, but also because of the ability to attract and support international investments demonstrated by the country’s institutions which sees Italy as its second commercial partner and one of the most important in terms of investments,” CEO Tronchetti Provera said at a celebration event markin 10 years of Pirelli's activity in Romania.
By 2021, the factory’s floor space will be extended to 260,000 square metres from the present 210,000. The enhancement plan also involves the production area in Slatina dedicated to motorsport, which includes a F1 production unit serving as a back-up for the main Pirelli F1 plant in Turkey.
The Pirelli Group entered Romania in 2004 when it established its subsidiary Pirelli Tyres Romania. The construction of the production plant, a greenfield investment, began in 2005 and the first tyres were manufactured in 2006.
($=0.89 euro)