Businessman Ion Tiriac has teamed up with DaimlerChrysler giant, after having been the distributor of its car brands in Romania for 15 years. Tiriac's partnership with the automotive group is the fourth move of this type the businessman had made after similar ones with Metro trade group, Allianz insurance company and HVB financial group.
Tiriac has set up DaimlerChrysler Automotive Romania company jointly with DaimlerChrysler, which is to take over import, marketing and sales activities for the brands the giant is already present with on the domestic market: Mercedes-Benz, Smart, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Fuso, starting next year.
DaimlerChrysler will hold 51% in the new entity, while Tiriac will own the remaining 49%.
Import activities for the 6 brands were previously handled by the Auto Rom company held by Ion Tiriac. According to the representatives of the Tiriac group, the approximately 130 employees of Auto Rom will receive takeover offers from the part of the new entity.
Beside DaimlerChrysler brands, the firms businessman Ion Tiriac owns import and distribute other brands, as well, such as Ford, Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Hyundai and Mitsubishi.
The automotive unit of Tiriac group in the first six months of this year derived sales of over 12,200 units, up 65% against the same period of last year. TiriacAuto currently coordinates the activities of six car importers: Auto Rom, Romcar, Mazrom Motors, M Car Trading, Premium Auto and Hyundai Auto Romania, selling over 80 models of Mercedes, Smart, Chrysler, Jeep, Mitsubishi, Ford, Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover and Hyundai brands.
Additionally, the automotive unit includes several car dealers located in Bucharest and in the main cities of the country. TiriacAuto officials put last year's turnover at 470 million euros, as sales had surged by 50%, to close to 17,700 units. Last year, the best selling brands of those TiriacAuto distributes were Ford and Hyundai, with 7,800 and 4,000 units.
TiriacAuto this year announced it would invest around 20 million euros to build a centre in Bucharest selling all the brands of the portfolio. The construction of this centre, to be located on an area of 3.7 hectares, will be finalised at the end of 2007 and will include showrooms, car servicing units and car part warehouses.
The main rivals of TiriacAuto on the domestic market are companies such as Porsche Romania (importing Audi, Skoda, Seat and Volkswagen brands), Renault Romania (Renault, Nissan), Auto Italia (Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Ssang Yong), Trust Motors (Peugeot) or Automobile Bavaria (BMW, Mini, Rover).
The Romanian car market has been booming over recent years, with sales having increased more than three times in the last five years.
TiriacAuto
In this year's H1 sold more than 12,200 units, up 65% against last year
Coordinates the activity of 6 car importers: Auto Rom, Romcar, Mazrom Motors, M Car Trading, Premium Auto and Hyundai Auto Romania
Also includes several car dealers of Bucharest and the main cities
The company's officials put last year's turnover at 470m euros, as a result of a 50% rise in sales, to almost 17,700 units
Will invest 20m euros to build a centre in Bucharest selling all the brands of its portfolio
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
