Rombat Bistriţa in talks with Ford on a contract for hybrid car battery production

Rombat Bistriţa car battery producer is in talks with Ford to start, from 2012, delivering batteries for the hybrid cars the US company plans to manufacture in Craiova.

"Virtually, hybrid car battery production costs are 2.2 times higher than for a normal model," said Ioan Repede, general manager of Rombat.

Currently, the company's most important clients are Dacia and Peugeot groups, to which it delivers 20% of total production. The company also operates exports, 60% of the total, mainly to the French market, where its representatives estimate to hold a 10% share. Domestically, the share of the part market stood at 65% at the level of last year, according to Rombat information.

The company has an annual production capacity of 2.3 million batteries, and in the first three quarters sold over 1.4 million.

"The increase came as we continued the investment process. Rombat opened two new regional centres in Brăila and Bucharest to strengthen its position. We expect 2010 to be a year of strong sales, above 2009," Repede added.

According to the company's plan, production will reach 3 million batteries in 2015, a year when turnover is set to hit 93m euros.

For 2010, the producer has budgeted 60m-euro turnover, up from 50 million in 2009.