(Bloomberg) -- Pirelli & C. SpA plans to increase production at its plant in Romania by 50 percent by 2021, following a 200 million-euro ($223 million) investment in the eastern European country.
The Italian tire maker will expand production capacity at its plant in the southern Romanian town of Slatina to 15 million tires per year from 10 million, it said in an e-mailed statement on Friday. Five hundred new jobs will be created at the plant, it said.
Once completed, the expansion will bring Pirelli's total investment in Romania, where it first opened a plant a decade ago, to 740 million euros. The company plans to raise its production of tires for the premium car segment and also its Formula 1 production unit that serves as a back-up for the main Pirelli plant in Turkey.
The Slatina plant represents a "key logistics and commercial hub" due to its strategic location in eastern Europe, Chief Executive Officer Marco Tronchetti Provera said in the statement.
Pirelli is also considering opening a plant in Romania, to manufacture bicycle tires, Tronchetti Provera was quoted by hotnews.ro as saying in Slatina. Pirelli was delisted from the Milan stock exchange last year after its acquisition by ChemCina.
To contact the reporters on this story: Irina Vilcu in Bucharest at isavu@bloomberg.net, Andra Timu in Bucharest at atimu@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net, Andras Gergely, Elizabeth Konstantinova
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