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Hella Saturnus General Manager Christoph Droste said 2010 made for another successful year for the company, which has increased sales by 2.5-fold since 2007, when it stood at EUR 90m.

In this time, the company has created 1,000 jobs and is planning to open more as part of a fresh five-year, EUR 60m investment drive, said Droste.

He announced that the company had launched talks with the Economy Ministry in a bid to obtain a subsidy from the state for the new projects.

The GM pointed out that Hella, a German automotive parts supplier, had not been viewed as a direct foreign investor when it acquired Saturnus because it had established a holding company in Slovenia for this purpose.

Saying it wanted fair treatment now, Droste said that a subsidy would be an important contribution to ensuring that the company remains competitive.

If it fails to obtain the subsidy, it would have to consider moving to countries with a more favourable business climate, such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania.

Droste pointed out that the Hella Saturnus plant in Ljubljana was not only a production facility but also an important development centre. The number of engineers in the department rose from 100 to 130 last year, while a further 45 would be take on if the company manages to obtain a subsidy.

Hella acquired a majority stake in Saturnus, a company established in 1921 which turned to automotive lighting production in 1948, in 1997.