Trek moves from Ireland to Germany

Six years ago, US bike manufacturer Trek moved into a European production center in Ireland in order to be able to react more quickly and flexibly to the needs of the local markets. Now the group management has made a decision that has been in the air since the acquisition of the Villiger-Diamant Group: the factory in Carlow will be closed and European production will instead be relocated to the much larger Diamant plants in Hartmannsdorf. This will simplify logistics, as transportation routes to most target markets will be shortened.

As the industry newspaper "Bike-EU" reports in its online edition, the decision to relocate has caused disgruntlement among the Irish authorities. According to the Irish newspaper "The Nationalist", they had actively subsidized the establishment of the European production headquarters in Carlow with taxpayers' money six years ago, but only found out about the closure through a press release. While Trek emphasizes that all contracts with the Irish authorities have been adhered to, the Irish Development Association (a kind of government agency for location and economic development) says that the contract was expected to run for a minimum of ten years. Accordingly, the option is reserved to reclaim some of the tax money spent by Trek at the time.