Seat design may treble car part firm workforce

An engineering company in Powys could create up to 100 jobs and treble its workforce over the next few years if it secures several major orders.

Bosses at Cobra UK hope to more than treble the workforce from 42 to 140 at Buttington Cross Enterprise Park in Welshpool.

The car parts firm started branching out into alternative markets when the recession hit the automotive industry.

It has since developed a seat which it claims is 5.2kg lighter than its competitors and could cut fuel costs.

By using its seats, Cobra UK claimed the fuel bill for a 180-seat aircraft could fall by £840,000 a year, and there would be a reduction in maintenance costs.

Cobra UK's managing director Gary Seale said he had been overwhelmed by the response. He said: "There is currently strong interest from China which is keen to fit the fleets of its expanding domestic airlines with the lightweight seats.

"The Chinese have expressed a desire to sign Cobra to a joint manufacturing venture in China but we would like to retain as much manufacturing as possible in Wales, having secured a consolidation loan offer of £500,000 from Finance Wales to help expand the business.

"They have identified a requirement of 225,000 seats and I will be flying out to hold more talks with them.

"We are also exploring the possibility of setting up joint ventures with other UK companies to sell seats for land, sea and rail transport as well as aircraft."

Mr Seale added: "We hope to increase the workforce to 140 over the next few years if we secure the orders. We were an automotive parts firm going through the pains of recession so we decided to look at where our core skills led us. "