SOFIA -- Chinese automaker JAC Motors is exploring opportunities to start building electric cars in Bulgaria, the Balkan country's economy ministry said.
"JAC Motors looks at Bulgaria as an entry point to the European markets for the electric-powered cars and buses it is manufacturing," the ministry said in a statement.
The Black Sea state, the European Union's poorest member, is hungry for new, sustainable foreign investment after a real estate bubble burst during the financial crisis in 2009.
During a meeting with Bulgarian senior state officials, JAC Motors' representatives said the company could in future consider establishing assembling operations in Bulgaria using locally manufactured components.
Bulgaria's location on the southeastern edge of Europe, near Turkey and bordering Romania, as well as low taxes and labor costs, are helping to attract investment in car parts production.
China's Great Wall Motor opened its first European factory in 2012 in Bulgaria, in a joint-venture with local company Litex Motor. The 50,000-unit capacity plant builds the Steed pickup from kits supplied from China.
