Speaking to Lusa agency, one of the administrators of Auto Valverde, Nuno Rodrigues, said today that the contract for the construction of the industrial pavilion with about 2,000 square meters of covered area, destined to repair bodywork, had already started, in an investment of one million of euros.

The unit will be equipped with "the latest equipment and technology for intervention in vehicles, in terms of bodywork repair".

The "collision center will be completed in the spring of 2022, and the start of operations is expected in June or July", he said, adding that it is "a center just to work what is usually called bodywork and painting" .

In the medium term, “we foresee the creation of 10 new jobs”, said Nuno Rodrigues, justifying the expansion of the business with “the company's need to increase its productive capacity, which is currently almost at the limit”.

The administrator, who spoke to the Lusa agency about the public presentation of the new investment, guaranteed that “almost all workers are recruited in the municipality”.

In 2016, the “small family workshop” founded 35 years ago and which employed four people left its premises in the village of Vila Fria and moved to an industrial pavilion in the industrial area of ​​Neiva, with 2,500 square meters, in an investment of 650 thousand euros that today employs 14 workers.

“After this path of growth, the company seeks to be a reference in its sector. It has been in this sense that it has become increasingly necessary to expand the entire production structure, aiming to increase our capacity and respond to the demands that the automotive sector is increasingly presenting to us”, said the official who since 2000, together with his brother, he manages Auto Valverde.

Nuno Rodrigues explained that, "even despite the difficult economic context" caused by the covid-19 pandemic, "this is the ideal moment for the creation of the new unit that will function as an exclusive hub for the area of ​​repair and maintenance of bodywork".

“We are living in a decisive moment in the evolution of the automotive industry worldwide, which forces us to follow the entire paradigm of technological change associated with the electrification of vehicles”, he specified.

The new investment aims to “aggregate in a single space an offer of services that covers all activities associated with vehicle maintenance and repair”.

“We believe that this is a differentiating factor compared to many of the companies that operate in this business area. We also seek to specialize and qualify human resources that are increasingly scarce in this area, with a view to, in the medium term, the export of this type of services to countries, namely in northern Europe”, he added.

Founded in 1986 by Joaquim Rodrigues, father of the two current administrators, the small family car repair and maintenance workshop earned, on average, around 200 thousand euros per year.

Currently, with the expansion of the business into new areas, such as commerce and car rental and the intermediation of car credit, the turnover is around 1.5 million euros per year.

The investment presented today is supported by the Municipal Incentive Regime, created in 2010, which provides for tax reductions and exemptions for investors in tourist developments and business accommodation, economic activities related to the sectors of regionally-based agriculture and forestry, urban regeneration and modernization of commercial spaces and food and beverage spaces.

The measures aim to ensure investors mechanisms and policies to promote development in activities related to endogenous products, rehabilitation and real estate.