1. Herzlich Willkommen! Carthago . . . mit Carthago in die Zukunft
Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Matjaž Kekec and I am very happy to be here with you today. What I'd like to present you is a real success story of an upmarket german (as you see on the slide) brand of luxury motorhomes. So CARTHAGO calls you Welcome in the future.

2. CASE: Carthago Proizvodnja avtodomov d.o.o.
Total planned investment: ,00 Eur
State subsidy funds: ,00 Eur
Nr. Of new employment: 150
Production of Chic C line model
Slide 7

3. Die Chic Familie
The basic idea was to launch a compact model line in complement to the original Carthago motorhome model line of the highest price level. Just like Mercedes-Benz did it with the A-class, Carthago decided to create Chic-series of compact motorhomes. As none of the two german sites was apt to take this challenge, due to lack of skilled and qualified workforce, which is above all very expensive, Carthago decided to go greenfield and build another factory outside Germany. The chosen land was Slovenia, the chosen place was Odranci in the north-eastern Prekmurje region.

4. Goals and benefits for Carthago
Odranci, Slovenia = Carthago’s 3rd production site
To increase the market share by creating production capacities for a new compact product line
one of few, increasing output during recession
Reduction of manufacturing costs
Access to a large pool of highly skilled and educated manpower
Benefit on local community support
Potential for further development
high manpower potential
available land
To increase the market share by creating production capacities for a new compact product line, which proved to be an excellent idea. Today, Carthago is one of few, increasing output during recession
Reduction of manufacturing costs
Access to a large pool of highly skilled and well educated manpower
Benefit on local community support
Potential for further development and expansion as there is a high manpower potential and lots of available land

5. Investment implementation
Challenges:
Fulfillment of the obligation to employ 150 persons in 3 years after receiving the subsidy (as the result of late start with production)
Support
National cost sharing grant scheme – Ministry of the Economy
Local community support
Regional development agency Mura
Employment service Murska Sobota
Well, Slovenia is not the one country that would immediately raise your attention. It's a small country squeezed between Austria, Italy and Hungary, with an excellent education level of its workforce, excellent infrastructure, but not necessarily the cheapest one. What the state provides, however, is the following: Incentives for every direct foreign investment, incentives for employment (especially for the persns difficult to employ), tailored and free training programs. Specialty for the Prekmurje region is a new law which provides even further incentives, as the state has decided to develop this region in a faster rhythm than the rest of the country

6. Important elements for successful launch
Preparation of the project (CARTHAGO’s case: 1 year)
Selection of highly motivated initial employees
Preparation and training of employees
25 employees were trained at the HQ, Germany
Surveillance and support for employees in the first days of their start-up
Selection of the employees to follow
criteria: experience and labor discipline
Now here you can see what is essential for such a project to succeed

7. Present stand of operation
Production of 700 vehicles planned for 2010
35 % of total production output of Carthago Group
150 employees reached
Enlargement in planning phase
On this graph, you can see how fast the total output of Carthago rises (in spite of the less pleasant times since 2008) and how high the contribution of Slovenian site is (blue)

8. Increasing production / output tendency  
This output tendency is impressive, isn't it? And it's getting higher in spite of the fact that the market for such vehicles has shrunk for 50%. But the new Carthago Chic line made in Slovenia offers a much better value for money, which is always the best possible weapon in case of the crisis

9. Local Payroll
From 0 to 140, and we intend to go further up in the near future...

10. Payroll – CARTHAGO Group
Today the Carthago Group has more than 430 employees at 3 sites
...but, as you can see, employment at Carthago grows even outside Slovenia due to a very favourable tendency of sales volumes

11. Benefits for the Pomurje region
150 new employments
Development of sub-contracting activity in the region
Higher added value: product development done by local engineers
Synergies with the local community
So Carthago made a good choice. Was his choice also good for the slovenian region where he settled down? Yes definitely and here you can see why: Prekmurje region got 
- 150 new employments
- Several sub-contractors who moved or were created locally
- Higher added value: product development is mostly done by local engineers
- There are superb win-win synergies with the local community

12. Project 2 = Second investment project – new vehicle model
What’s next?
Project 2 = Second investment project – new vehicle model
Goal: to double again the production capacity
Total planned investment: ,00 Eur
Building
Equipment, machines
State subsidy: 30%
Carthago will run on two calls for grant funds exploiting
the new Law of POMURJE:
Employment subvention, tax exemption
foreign investment incentives
State co-financing
So, what's next?  Carthago will go further and, as the first part of the story has been a success, let's add another one.

13. Increase the output rhythm to 24 vehicles a week by the end of 2010
Project 2: objectives
Increase the output rhythm to 24 vehicles a week by the end of 2010
Increase the production rhythm to 45 by 2012
Increase total employment on 260
...and further beyond, the ambitions are high. We at Carthago certainly don't regret the decision to have invested in Odranci888