Porsche Engineering, the technology service provider and wholly owned subsidiary of Porsche, announced the opening of a second tech location in Romania, in Timisoara, in addition to the centre in Cluj-Napoca.

The city thus further strengthens its position in the region’s automotive industry.

The new Porsche Timisoara research and development site extends and complements the work being done by Porsche at its other Romanian site in Cluj-Napoca, the company said in a press release.

“With a new research and development site in Timisoara, it is further expanding its network of innovation centres for developing the intelligent and connected vehicles of the future,” reads the press release.

Porsche Engineering plans to recruit around 50 people in Timisoara in 2021.

In the mid-term, 200 specialists are set to work at the new centre. The company plans to employ primarily software development and testing experts who will work on various automotive projects. They will focus on trends such as highly automated driving functions, machine learning, virtual energy management and intelligent body and cockpit.

A couple of days earlier, the German company Dräxlmaier announced plans to invest €200mn in a factory in Timisoara, in the next six years, where it wants to produce batteries for electric cars. Dräxlmaier Timisoara will produce electronic and high voltage components here. The battery assembly system for hybrid cars from a premium carmaker will start in in 2022.

In April, German automotive parts supplier Continental Group purchased a new building that includes a production hall and office space in the Freidorf Timisoara Industrial Park. The new building will also play an important logistic role: it will help the company expand the internal supply chain and infrastructure, better optimise and harmonise internal processes related to storage, local production and intralogistics.