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Ioan Neculaie, the investor who controls Brasov-based tractor maker Roman, has announced that an order for 600 tractors has been received from Asia, even before the official product launch on the market. "It"s a fairly rudimentary tractor, but this is what the customer wanted. It has no cabin and all the components are designed for crude tasks. It only has a sun protection screen. It is quite cheap, too. It will cost around 9,500 EUR. The U650 is a fairly large tractor. For Romania, we will have to buy the license to produce a model with a cabin, too," Neculaie said. Roman, formerly a truck manufacturer, are planning to launch their first tractor model at the end of this year, with an estimate price of some 20,000 EUR. The company started working on the first tractor prototype two weeks ago, within a joint venture with a factory in Sfantu Gheorghe and another businessman "If every goes according to plan, we can get Romanian tractor production going, because there is great demand for cheap and good tractors, both in Romania and abroad," Neculaie added. The original tractor factory in Brasov stopped producing tractors in 2007, when the company was closed and put into voluntary liquidation. In June 2007, the factory was acquired by Flavus Investitii SRL for 82 million EUR (including VAT). Flavus tried to resume tractor production, but failed to find a partner. Amonth ago, Roman SA - Brasov, a factory neighbouring the original tractor factory Tractorul, received a new order from the U.S. Army to produce 465 trucks for Afghanistan for some 100 million USD. Deliveries have been scheduled for the next two years. "This is the fourth order from the U.S., which brings us to an overall intake of over 400 million USD," Neculaie said, who added that more than 1,000 trucks had already been delivered to the U.S. customer. "We also received an order for fire engines, also for Iraq and Afghanistan. About 30 pieces. We are now bidding for 500 trucks and I don"t think we have any chance to lose because I believe we have the best price/quality ratio," Neculaie added. In 2005, Roman SA won a tender to provide trucks to the U.S. forces deployed in Iraq. In 2006, the value of the exports to the U.S. customer reached 75 million USD, from an overall production value of 100 million USD. Last year, half of the production went to the U.S. forces in Iraq.
Two Roman buses tested in Brasov public transportation service
Neculaie also announced that two buses produced by Roman would soon be tested within the public transportation service in Brasov. "These buses will move people free of charge between 7 a.m., because we want students to benefit from it, too, and 10 a.m. and then between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The buses will run on two important routes in Brasov. We want to prove that these buses are very good, very enduring and modern. They come with full air conditioning and most parts come from well-reputed companies, mainly German," said Neculaie. The price of a Roman bus is about 134,000 EUR, compared to 180,000 EUR for a German-made bus. The capacity is 99 persons, of whom 30 seated.
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