Pirelli celebrates ten years of industrial presence in Romania by announcing a further investment of approximately 200 million euros between now and 2021 in the Slatina production site, testifying to its strategic importance within the group's activities. The new investment plan will allow the creation of new jobs and the achievement of an annual production capacity of 15 million pieces from the current 10 million.
The tenth anniversary was celebrated with a visit to the Pirelli factory by the Romanian prime minister, Dacian Ciolos, accompanied by the finance minister, Anca Dana Dragu, and the labor minister, Dragos Pislaru. They were welcomed by Marco Tronchetti Provera, executive vice president and managing director of the group, and Giuliano Menassi, CEO of Pirelli Tires Romania as well as head of Research and Development at group level.
The additional investments planned between now and the end of 2021 will allow for a further improvement in Pirelli's industrial competitiveness at the European level. Overall, the surface area of the factory, which produces Premium segment car tires mainly for Eastern European markets, will be expanded to around 260 square meters from the current 210. The upgrading project also involves the Slatina production area dedicated to motor sport, which includes a Formula One production unit which has the back-up function of the main Pirelli plant based in Turkey.
“As prime minister of Romania – said Dacian Ciolos – I consider this investment extremely important especially because it creates employment and a qualified workforce. Pirelli also makes use of a few hundred local suppliers, i.e. Romanian companies that can further develop together with Pirelli. It is important to attract foreign direct investments but also to make them rooted in Romania so that they translate into new investments in R&D and innovation". For Pirelli, Tronchetti was keen to underline how in the course of its ten presences in Romania, Pirelli has never stopped growing: "This is due not only to the strategic position of the Slatina plant, which for Pirelli represents a logistics hub and commercial key for the whole of Eastern Europe, but also to the ability to attract and support international investments demonstrated by the institutions of the country, which not surprisingly sees Italy as its second commercial partner and one of the most important from the point of view of investments ”.
