The company is a joint venture in majority ownership of CHTC China Hi-Tech Group Corporation, and as such the first Chinese foreign investment in the country.

"Slovenia was not our first choice, but thanks to the possibility of cooperation with the former experts of TVM, we decided to come to Maribor," Postl told the STA in reference to the bankrupt TVM whose production TAM Durabus took over.

Postl said Slovenia has good infrastructure, an attractive tax policy and a well trained workforce, but there is an "immense amount of administration" that investors need to deal with.

"At least a part of these tasks should be done by the competent institutions in Slovenia...A lot of time and effort is wasted, which also erodes confidence in Slovenia's openness to foreign investments," he explained.

TAM Durabus got a EUR 3m grant from the state, but the paperwork has not yet been finalised. "We hope the government will adopt the decision as fast as possible...It is an important signal to our shareholders that Slovenia supports such projects."

Some foreign investors complain that Slovenian workers are short on practical skill when they come fresh out of school, but Postl said this was not their experience.

"Most workers come from the former TVM, but we also have very young people straight out of university and we're thrilled about their skill...I do not see a shortage of qualified staff at the moment."

The company recently won an order for the delivery of 20 airport buses for the airport in Riyadh, a deal that Postl says revived cooperation with partners from Saudi Arabia that had had problems with TVM which are now resolved.

The order was also quite big, which is important for the future development of the company, he said.

The company initially projected it would employ 70-90 workers by the end of the year, but Postl said the figure had already been exceeded and the company is on track to employing about 130 by mid-2014.

Asked about the business plans, Postl said the targets will be exceeded this year, as the company is on track to producing 55-60 buses, a figure that is set to almost double next year.