Renault will invest 215 million euros to build a gearbox factory in Pitesti, which will make 2,000 units per day in 2008, in which year Renault will achieve more than 2bn-euro revenues in Romania, Francois Fourmont, head of the French group''s operations in Eastern Europe stated yesterday.
The products of the new Renault factory will be exported in full, to such countries as France, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, the UK and South Korea.
The gearboxes will be installed on every brand of the Renault-Nissan alliance, namely Nissan, Renault and Samsung.
The French carmaker said he expected the factory in Pitesti to post sales of 128 million euros in 2008, its first year in business.
The facility will operate in a 3,500 square metre building on the industrial platform of Pitesti. This is second such facility built by Renault, after the factory in Seville, which started manufacturing in April 2005.
The factory will create 650 jobs and get a state aid of some 17% of the total investment.
The list of targets for this investment included several locations in Europe and other continents, with Romania regarded as less attractive at first, Fourmont said.
The Romanian officials seem to have learned their lesson from the loss of some major investments like Montupet, ElcoBrandt, MAN and Electrolux (with a cumulated value of about 200 million euros) and have granted a large amount of state aid to Renault.
According to governmental sources, the investor requested the maximum level of state aid that may be granted (20% of the investment value). "The authorities came up with a plan for state-aid that covers about 17.5% of the investment," they said.
With a value in excess of 37 million euros, the aid has been given approval in principle by the Competition Council and European officials, with further details to emerge depending on the phasing of the investment, the sources said.
The aid covers four main areas - regional development, environmental protection, employee training and employment and research and development - and has been "specially tailored to this investor".
Renault had invested 700 million euros in Dacia by the end of last year, with the investment budget for 2005 and 2006 set to reach 150 million euros in each of the two years.
Vice-premier George Copos said last month that Renault''s investment on the Romanian market would be worth 2bn euros by 2008, after having reached one billion euros by the end of this year.
The acquisition by Renault of the controlling interests in Dacia in 1999 for 50 million dollars was made, as the privatisation contract stipulates, with the help of state aid destined for large investment projects in the automotive sector.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro ; miruna.lebedencu@zf.ro
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