Conti Automotive Appoints New Romanian R&D Head

As of February 1, research and development for Continental Automotive in Romania is being headed up by Dr. Christian von Albrichsfeld. The 12-year Conti veteran is coordinating the research and development activities of Continental in Romania at a national level in its Timisoara, Sibiu and Iasi sites. Dr. von Albrichsfeld has taken over this position from Christian Ruediger, who was in charge of the team in Romania for two years and finished his term in the position on January 31.

“I aim to continue the success records of Continental R&D Romania. The R&D centres in Romania have proved that they are capable of performance, that is why I am honoured to work with the team here and I am certain that together we will be able to face challenges in the future”, declared the new research and development head upon taking over this position. Von Albrichsfeld graduated from the Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany; he obtained also a doctoral degree in robotics and artificial intelligence at the same University and has been working at Continental, in Frankfurt, Germany since 1997.

In Romania, the Continental Automotive Group is represented by all three automotive divisions: Powertrain, Interior and Chassis & Safety. After the acquisition of Siemens VDO in 2007, the automotive units of Siemens VDO in Timisoara, an R&D centre, a plant for electronic control units and the R&D centre in Iasi were added to the R&D centre and to the plant in Sibiu. The activities of the R&D Continental Automotive Group in Romania are the second most significant to Conti in Europe after Germany, and the number of employees there has reached already 3,000.