A handshake at the German embassy in Pretoria settled it: about EUR 20 million will be invested in Kindel industrial estate over the next years, and both the number of staff and production will double by 2020. Bell currently employs almost 100 people in Eisenach. “Bell Equipment’s plan to invest here is a great boost to our networking efforts in South Africa,” said Tiefensee in Pretoria, promising also to support the investment by helping Bell make the most of its entitlement to state aid. Chief Executive Gary Bell said it was vital to grow the company’s plant and activity at its site in Thuringia: “Sixty per cent of our turnover already comes from the northern hemisphere, and Europe is a very important market for us and one that is growing all the time.”
Support from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the State Development Corporation of Thuringia was the main reason Thuringia was chosen as the location, with proximity to key suppliers and key customers and markets a close second. One of the largest utility vehicle manufacturers in South Africa, Bell Equipment received assistance from the State Development Corporation in 2003 to set up in the Eisenach-Kindel industrial estate, where it manufactures construction equipment, earthmovers and articulated dump trucks for the European market. Every week, around 17 vehicles leave its factory in Thuringia. (td/maa)
