NEXT YEAR, German company "Continental" will open a factory in Braşov

• The tire maker has rented a hangar from Schaeffler Romania

• 80 people to be hired in the preliminary stage

German company Continental, specializing in the production of tires, will open a small factory next year, which will employ approximately 80 people, in the Cristian commune of the county of Braşov. The company has rented a 4,000 sqm hangar from Schaefler Romania, in a deal which was concluded yesterday by the General Manager of Ina Schaefler Romania, Alexandru Blemovici.

The initial project was scheduled to be larger, and some of the alternatives considered included the purchase of a plot of land of 35,000 square meters and the development of a plant from scratch, and at the moment of reaching the maximum capacity, the production unit was set to have 1,800 employees. The mayoralty of Cristian was willing to speed the process for securing all the necessary permits for the construction of the plant.

However, Blemovici confirmed that there is a plan B for the development of the Continental project in Braşov, but said that "nothing of the kind will happen before 2012".

• The German group will invest 70 million Euros in Romania in 2010

The German group Continental announced that this year it would invest approximately 70 million Euros in order to expands its Romanian production units and that it intends to hire 1,400 people. Investments will go mostly towards the expansion of the production lines, but also into research and development.

The German company has entered the Romanian market more than 10 years ago, and it currently owns eight production units and three R&D centers in Timişoara, Sibiu, Carei, Arad and Iaşi. The group also has a center for the distribution of tires in Eastern Europe in Săcălaz (county of Timiş) and is also associated with Pirelli in a unit which produces steel cord in Slatina.

At the end of last month, the group announced that it has secured the necessary license for a plant which handles the processing of the primary mix used in the production of tires for the plant of Timişoara. 50 million Euros will be invested in this unit, and the works will be completed in 2012. The investment is part of a project to expand the output capacity for car and truck tires.

Continental is one of five largest tire makers in the world and the second largest in Europe. The company has approximately 8,000 employees in Romania, and has invested over 400 million Euros in its ten years of operation on the domestic market.