Power Systems giant Rolls-Royce has appointed Cushman & Wakefield to an expanded role supporting its global property requirements following a competitive tender process.

Representatives of the BMW Group, the Czech government and the Karlovy Vary region announced construction of a new proving ground. The roughly 500-hectare property will be developed in Sokolov in the Karlovy Vary region, close to the German border town of Waldsassen and about two-and-a-half hours’ drive from the BMW Group’s main development site, the Research and Development Centre (FIZ), in Munich. The new BMW Group proving ground, which will create several hundred jobs, is slated to go into operation early in the next decade. Total investment will be in the three-digit million-euro range.

Labour force is the key factor for auto player’s location decision-making process - says Colliers International in its latest research. The auto producers and component suppliers sector is very important in CEE industrial and is growing. Auto exports ranged from 4.7% of total exports in 2015 in Bulgaria, upwards to 28.0% in Hungary and 34.6% in Slovakia, growing at a regionally-weighted annual rate of 7.4% in the period 2010-2015.

Bulgaria heads the list of the top ten countries in terms of attractiveness to the automotive sector in Europe. This was revealed in the latest research by Colliers and Automotive Cluster Bulgaria, which took place during the second half of 2016.