ZF English

ACE Automotive relocates to Romania

31.05.2005, 19:23 13

The Spanish manufacturer of electronic automotive components, ACE Automotive Group, has announced plans to relocate its five factories from Spain to Romania by 2011.

The company''s management declined to provide further details about the costs of the operation, the order in which the Spanish factories would be relocated or the areas of Romania where they would be located. ?"We are making this move in order to remain competitive on the market. At the moment we can manufacture at lower costs in Romania than in Spain without having to cut down on quality. On the other hand, companies that make automotive components normally try to be as close as possible to the companies they are working for. So, for example, if our customers choose to move their manufacturing to China in the next few years, then we will have to be there also," Adam Ambrus, ACE Romania general manager, told ZF Transilvania.

He explained that the group currently owned seven factories - five in Spain, one in Mexico and one in Romania - and that relocation would only affect its European manufacturing facilities.

The company says that ACE Romania''s sales grew by some 30% in the first four months of the year compared with the same period in 2004. Turnover in 2004 reached 397bn ROL (around 9.8 million euros), which the company expects will grow to 556bn ROL (around 15m euros) this year.

"This positive forecast is based on the fact that we improved our product portfolio. We are currently working on the new Seat Leon model that will be launched in Romania in two months. The Seat Altea and Toledo, which we started working on last summer, will also contribute to the growth estimated for this year" Ambrus said.

He said the number of employees would reach 2,000 by the end of the year, involving an increase of 400. "This is our only way to cope with the demands of the market," Ambrus added. The company completed a 16 million-euro investment in constructing its first production centre in Romania, in Cluj-Napoca, at the end of last month.

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