Japanese car maker Mitsubishi may be interested in opening an engine factory in Romania, which would require an investment of over EUR 200 million, according to local Stirileprotv.ro.

Mitsubishi may thus become the fourth international car maker that establishes a production unit in Romania, after Renault, Ford, and Daimler. However, they haven’t made a decision yet and are also looking at Hungary and Slovakia.

A Mitsubishi delegation went to the Government this week to see what facilities the Romanian state would be willing to offer to support this investment. The Government offered state aid to American group Ford for its car and engine factory in Craiova and to German group Daimler for its gearbox factory in Sebes.

Mitsubishi is now part of the Renault-Nissan alliance and Carlos Gosh, the head of the Renault-Nissan alliance has also taken over as CEO of Mitsubishi. French group Renault owns the Romanian car maker Dacia and the group's experience in Romania may play a role in Mitsubishi's final decision.

The automotive sector has been the most dynamic in Romania’s industry in the last ten years as many international producers of auto components have opened factories here. However, Romania hasn’t been able to convince a third car producer to open a factory here and German group Daimler chose Poland instead of Romania for building a EUR 500 million engine factory, in early 2016.

Romania continues to be one of the cheapest labor markets in the European Union, which is one of the things foreign investors are looking at, but it has become more difficult for companies to find suitable candidates as the unemployment has dropped significantly in the last two years.

editor@romania-insider.com