ZF News

Demand for automatic transmission cars to increase slowly
The cheapest car with automatic transmission available on the domestic market starts at a little over 9,000 euros, but even so, customers are still avoiding such cars because a model costs at least 1,000 euros more than a manual transmission version. The popularity of automatic transmission on the automotive market is not so much a matter of price and traffic conditions as it is a matter of culture first of all, analysts on the local market say. For instance, penetration of automatic transmission in the US reaches over 95%, while in Europe, especially in countries such as Spain and Italy, it is much lower. “The local market is price conscious when it comes to buying a car and the cheapest automatic transmission gearboxes, the robotised gearboxes, drive the car price up by 1,000 euros, and even by 2,000 euros or more in the case of a higher performance gearbox,” said Marius Carp, automotive market analyst and former executive manager of the Association of Automotive Manufacturers and Importers (APIA). The most affordable AT model on the local market, which sells for 9,000 euros, Fiat Panda, is part of the small car class, while the more expensive Rolls Royce Phantom comes with starting price of almost 400,000 euros and may go to as much as 600,000 euros. Romania will surely see an increase in demand for cars equipped with automatic transmission gearboxes, which will be slow, though, analysts say.

Wipro reaches 300 employees, will hire 150 more

The local branch of Wipro, one of the biggest providers of outsourcing and software services based in India, has doubled the number of employees in the last ten months, reaching 300 people in its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centre in Bucharest. “We have grown at a time when things were not going very well. Over the next year we anticipate to hire another 150 people and expand our presence in Romania. The BPO centre in Bucharest is strategically positioned in our business plans,” Ashutosh Vaidya, head of Wipro’s BPO global operations, which employ 23,000 people in countries such as Australia, US, Brazil, China, Romania, Philippines and India, told ZF. BPO processes are those non-core business processes that can be outsourced by companies. Approximately half of the 150 new people that Wipro wants to hire will be hired by the end of this year.

Romstal business still profitable overall, despite 40% lower sales

Enrico Perini, the majority shareholder of Romstal group believes this year’s results “are acceptable”, although the sales are 40% lower than last year. The entrepreneur’s main concern, however, is the productivity of his employees, writes BUSINESS Magazin weekly. “Business is still profitable overall,” Perini says, who will not provide further details, though. The balance sheets of the company show pluses although the company did not resort to personnel cutbacks, technically speaking, 80% of the 1,000 who left last year did it at their own will, he says. “It’s true that we did not hire anyone to replace those who left, either,” Perini admits. The group is currently employing about 2,700 people in its nine companies, the bulk of whose business is generated by Romstal Imex (heating, hydro and sanitary equipment), Valrom Industrie (plastic piping maker), Valplast Industrie (manufacturer of PVC pipes and fittings), and automotive dealer AutoKlass Center.

How many foreigners get treatment in Romanian clinics a year?

Whereas 80,000 foreigners spend 22.3 million euros on expensive medical treatment in the Czech Republic every year, on the Romanian market about 10,000 foreigners used public or private medical services. Considering the health care system is having serious financing problems, and private clinics do not have the necessary strength to advertise abroad, medical travel remains affordable to the developed European countries like Germany and France or to Asian countries. “In 2008, medical services were provided in Romania to 1,622 people insured in other EU member countries or in the Central and Eastern Europe, and in the first quarter of 2009, such services were provided to 132 people,” said the representatives of the National Health Insurance House (CNAS). Besides the 1,600 foreigners reported by the CNAS, there were also more than 8,500 foreigners reported by the main private clinics, which takes the total to about 10,000 people. A special category is that of dental services, with many foreigners and especially Romanians living abroad coming to Romania attracted by low tariffs.