Celebrating its 10 years of industrial presence in Romania, Italian multinational company Pirelli announced an additional investment of EUR200 million at the Slatina production hub through 2021 to highlight the site’s strategic importance to the group’s activities.
Pirelli’s Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, Marco Tronchetti Provera, said: “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”.
By 2021, the Italian tyre maker’s investment will have reached a total of around EUR740 million, creating around 500 new jobs and bringing annual production capacity up to 15 million units, from the present 10 million.
The additional investments planned until the end of 2021 will further improve Pirelli’s industrial competitiveness in Europe.
Since its inception, the Slatina factory has had the most advanced technologies for the production of car tyres for the premium segment primarily destined to Eastern European markets. Overall, the factory’s floor space will be extended to 260,000 sq m from the current 210,000 sq m.
The enhancement plan also involves the production area in Slatina dedicated to motorsport, which includes a F1 production unit which serves as a back-up for the main Pirelli F1 plant in Turkey.
The ten year anniversary was marked by a visit to the Pirelli plant by Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolo?, who was accompanied by the country’s Finance Minister Anca Dana Dragu and Minister for Labor Dragos Pîslaru.
Pirelli was represented by Tronchetti Provera and the CEO of Pirelli Tyres Romania Giuliano Menassi who is also the Group’s head of Research and Development.
The Pirelli Group entered Romania in 2004 when it established the company “Pirelli Tyres Romania”. Building of the green field tyre factory began in 2005 and the tyres were manufactured in 2006.