Dragos Grigore, Magna Exteriors Craiova: “The automotive business is at a critical point, and resilience is essential right now”

“The automotive industry is indeed a pillar of the Romanian economy and of economic growth. We are going through a period full of challenges, a cocktail of crises that seems never-ending.

But we must learn to cope and optimize. How can this be done? How do we do it at Magna? We approach the concept of the factory of the future, and we are focused on this area of optimizations supported by artificial intelligence. We must come up with new solutions to compensate for all the challenges coming from the market,” said Dragos Grigore, General Manager, Magna Exteriors Craiova, during the Automotive Forum 2025 organized by Automotive Today and The Diplomat-Bucharest.

Key statements:

• Many times, old systems can be reused in a more efficient way, allowing you to achieve good results at minimal cost.

• So, one strategic direction is driven by the factory of the future, while the other is driven by the optimization of already existing processes.

• We are experiencing difficulties in attracting new projects to Romania. The automotive business is at a critical point, and resilience is essential now. This fierce competition over the years in a highly dynamic industry helped us get through these periods more easily, because this fight for survival is somehow in our DNA.

• The automotive industry has never been an easy industry; it has never been an industry without challenges. It is true that the challenges today are greater than ever, but our DNA helps us overcome them.