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Last year alone, EUR 10m were invested, although 2012 was the most challenging year for European tire manufacturers in the past seven years, said Villard.

He did not disclose the company's business results for 2012, saying this was not in line with Goodyear's policy. However, he did say that the company was not able to match the results from 2011, when the company posted record sales revenues.

Villard told the STA that the company would expand to Moldova and Cyprus. Traditional markets of the company's own Sava brand include the countries of the former Yugoslavia, central and eastern Europe, the UK and France.

However, Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires also produces tires of other brands: Fulda, Goodyear, Dunlop and Debica. Villard underlined that the company had evolved into a manufacturer of the most demanding tires.