Daimler’s Romanian subsidiary Star Assembly, which produces transmissions, said the bulk of production in Europe, the activities in some administrative fields, as well as the production units in Sebes and Cugir are affected by this measure. Daimler management is constantly monitoring the situation and is to take additional measures, if the case may be. If things get better, the activity will be fully resumed, the officials also said.
In February 2019, Star Assembly officially started the production of a new, eight-speed automatic transmission for Mercedes-Benz cars, following an investment of EUR250 million, which adds to the EUR300 million investment started in 2013 in Sebes, when the production of nine-speed automatic transmissions started.
In 2018, Star Assembly had a turnover of EUR1.55 billion, lightly lower than a year before, its net profit grew to EUR56.9 million, from EUR54 million in 2017, while the number of employees grew to 1,854 employees, from 1,811 in 2017. To integrate production of the new transmission, Daimler built two new production halls at its plant in Sebes, totaling 54,000 sqm. Star Assembly and Star Transmission, Daimler’s Romanian subsidiaries in Sebes and Cugir, are key pillars of the Mercedes-Benz Cars powertrain global production network of and employ over 3,000 people.
The Star Assembly subsidiary was established in 2013, in Sebes, and the production of five-speed automatic transmissions started in the same year.