After a 6-year collaboration, in 2001, STAR TRANSMISSION CUGIR (STC) is set up, a Joint Venture in which Mercedes-Benz AG owns 58% of shares, and Cugir Mechanical Factory (UMC), the remaining 42%. The German company invested almost 5 million euro in STC (machines worth 2.2 million euro and 2.2 million euro in cash). The Cugir Mechanical Factory invested in STC approximately 4 million euro (machines worth 2.1 million euro, and buildings and land evaluated at 1.9 million euro).

Since 1996, Mercedes-Benz AG and the Cugir Mechanical Factory have been producing in Cugir, as a 100% series supplier, gears for the transmission of Mercedes-Benz A-Klasse. When the company was inaugurated, Mr. Volker Stauch, the representative of Mercedes-Benz AG, Head of the Transmissions and Engines Department (4 plants: Stuttgart, Berlin, Hamburg and Kölleda), stated that “the number of pieces produced will not increase suddenly, but we will achieve a continuous and steady development. The important thing is to continue what we have obtained in these six years of collaboration – quality and timely delivery.”

In 2001, STC had a production area of over 8,000 sq.m. and 120 qualified workers. The representatives of Mercedes-Benz AG state that they have chosen Cugir because, considering the 2-century tradition, it is one of the few places in the world where people do know how to process metal.