Pirelli invests in Slatina

The Italian group Pirelli will open the biggest tyre production facility in Eastern Europe in Slatina at the end of this year, an investment worth hundreds of millions of euros, stated the Italian minister of productive activities, Claudio Scajola. The construction of the factory in Slatina is part of the Pirelli strategy to expand on the Romanian market, after setting up a joint venture in 2004 – where it owns 80% of the shares- with the German company Continental, in order to produce metallic cord in Slatina. The worldwide leading tyre producers who own production facilities in Romania are Continental and Michelin. In the summer of 2001, the French group bought the Silvania Zalau and the Victoria Floresti plants from the Tofan group as well as the recap firm Tofan Recap and a series of warehouses and outlets, thus creating Michelin Romania. Continental built a tyre plant in Timisoara in 2000, in which it invested over 120 million euros. ZF