The presence of a higher number of suppliers on the local market, near the plant or at least in Romania, increases competitiveness of the manufacturing area and allows for cost cutting.
Moreover, the greater the `footprint’ of the automotive sector, the stronger the industry, which can attract other investors.
For instance, Peugeot-Citroen opened a plant in Morocco after Renault had developed two plants there and created a network of suppliers.
“We are in talks with a number of suppliers to get them to come to Romania and we want to keep increasing the integration rate. For instance, we now have a hew supplier in Oradea,” Christophe Dridi said.
The more local suppliers one has, the stronger one is and the stronger the local industry is, as well. As many as possible should be persuaded to come, for Dacia and for Ford in Craiova, he added.
The latest investment announced in the automotive component sector is Sogefi Suspensions Eastern Europe’s, a company part of the Sogefi group, which will build a suspension components plant in Oradea in a 255 million lei (EUR54 million) investment. The company got approved for a RON104 million state aid for the new plant. Its top customers are Ford, Renault, PSA (Peugeot-Citroen) and Fiat Chrysler. (EUR1=RON4.6830)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)