Serbia is in great demand among automotive suppliers. Recently, cable specialist Leoni announced the official start-up of a plant in Kraljevo (see Plasteurope.com of 17.09.2021), following it up rather quickly with another announcement: Yanfeng Automotive Interiors (YFAI, Shanghai / China; www.yfai.com) is building a second manufacturing facility in Kragujevac. The construction work for the 1,850 m² building has already been completed, and the production of components for car seats is due to commence in summer 2022. This will lead to the creation of 500 new jobs there in the next few years.

“With our new seat manufacturing plant, we are responding to market demand and extending our product portfolio in Europe,” said Chunfeng Xu, manager of European operations. Yanfeng had opened its first plant in Kragujevac in 2019 (see Plasteurope.com of 20.12.2019) for the production of vehicle interior parts. The production network in eastern Europe also includes two sites in the Czech Republic and other plants in Slovakia and Hungary. Worldwide, the company has more than 240 sites with around 55,000 employees.