Romania's Sebes was not a serious candidate for Daimler's new engine factory due to the poor infrastructure, according to economy minister Costin Borc, romania-insider.com reported, citing Ziarul Financiar.
Daimler said recently it would spend around EUR500m (US$575m) on a new engine factory in Poland, creating several hundred new jobs. This first Mercedes-Benz Cars plant in Poland would be in Jawor, around 70km west of Wroclaw, and would produce four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines for passenger cars.
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Daimler also considered Sebes as a possible location, according to the Romanian media. The automaker already has a gearbox factory there, where it launched production of new 9G-Tronic transmissions earlier this year, after a EUR300m spend.
"Daimler wanted the products to reach the gate of their Bremen plant in 17 hours. That's why Sebes wasn't a serious candidate for the engine factory, due to the logistic chains the producer imposed," minister Borc said at a conference on the local auto industry organised by Ziarul Financiar.
Such an investment in the engine plant would have been one of the biggest ever in Romania. The factory would have generated over EUR1bn in exports, according to the financial paper.
