Mercedes tempted to choose Romania over Poland for new factory

Marţi, 12 februarie 2008, 12:23 English | Business

Mercedes Benz is tempted to choose Romania over Poland to build a new factory focused on A and B Klasse models, company sources say, quoted by Automotive News. The new versions of the A Klasse and B Klasse models should hit the market by 2011 and thus a decision regarding a new factory needs to be taken as soon as possible.

Automotive News reads that the Germans might choose Tetarom III industrial park in Jucu, Cluj where Nokia has relocated, but the website argues that contradictions about about the future annual production capacity of the plant.

While in Romania some speak of 350,000 units annually, Mercedes circles speak of 70-100,000 units annually, Automotive News says.

It quotes a company source according to which the balance favors Romania and all managers were treating the issue very seriously.

Mercedes wants to build cars in Eastern Europe given the lower labor costs in these countries. Romania has an important advantage from this point of view with an average of 3,23 euro/hour, as compared to 6 euro in Poland and 42 euro in Germany. Still, Poland has a better developed infrastructure and logistical costs would be lower there than in Romania.