Rotta: Car market gulps down huge investments

Razvan Rotta, general manager of Compexit Cluj group, dealer of Skoda and Seat cars in Transylvania, believes the car industry is swallowing up huge amounts of investments, so that the group does not plan to invest in other areas.

This is not the case, though, with the businessman, who has decided to get involved in the development of businesses started by his nephews.

“I could give my nephews the bucket full of fish, but I”d rather put the rods into their hands and teach them how to fish. I hold stakes of 51% in their firms, which sell thermopane glass and compressors, but what I want is to sell my stock back to my nephews for 1 RON at the moment these firms develop,” said Razvan Rotta.

As a matter of fact, in time Rotta has proven to be a skilled fisherman, knowing when and where to throw his rod.

The fact that he is one of the founding members of Banca Transilvania and BT Asigurari, though he is not directly involved in these businesses, stands proof of this.

“There”s no way I can get involved more since Banca Transilvania is already a mammoth. I”m glad my stock is rising,” he said.

Beyond these activities, Rotta is present on the car market, holding 20% in two other firms beside Compexit Group.

Thus, he owns stakes in Novo Connect, which sells trailers for vans, buses, etc. and in Novo Trucks, dealer of Renault trucks. The group he runs posted 87.43% higher turnover last year, from 6.3 million euros to 12 million euros.

“I cannot say exactly why I chose the car sector. This is how it came to be. At any rate, there are only two possibilities here. Either you develop very much so that you may hire your own people to run the business for you, or you handle it yourself, but this is not the best thing to do.

There are certainly people who know more than you in this domain and you”re better off hiring them,” explained Razvan Rotta.

Even though he got to the point where he hired people to develop his business, Rotta is always up to date with what is happening on the car market.

“Last year, there was a boom on the Romanian car market, which doesn”t seem to have died out, yet. But at this moment, the car market is like the Stock Exchange: red and green. Some companies on the market are rising, others are falling.

“What will happen, we shall see. At least I believe many competitors are not sure what will happen next year or this year,” the businessman believes.

According to him, Romania”s future integration into the EU, with everything this entails, particularly freer imports of used cars, will create a new balance on the market.