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Report: VW to Decide This Week on Turkish Plant
Volkswagen AG’s supervisory board reportedly will decide this week whether to shift plans for an assembly plant from Turkey to Slovakia.
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Volkswagen AG’s supervisory board reportedly will decide this week whether to shift plans for an assembly plant from Turkey to Slovakia, sources tell Germany’s Automobilwoche.
VW said at the beginning of October it was close to finalizing a deal to build the €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) facility in Manisa, Turkey. Designed with a potential annual capacity to make 300,000 Skoda Superb and VW Passat midsize sedans, the factory was expected to open in 2022.
But VW suspended the project two weeks later in response to international criticism over Turkey’s military invasion of Syria.
VW must make a decision soon, the automotive newspaper says. That’s because the carmaker wants the new plant ready by October 2022, when it retools its Passat factory in Emden, Germany, to make electric cars.
Automobilwoche says an alternative under discussion would move Passat production from Emden to Bratislava, Slovakia. The Slovakian facility currently makes Audi Q7 and VW Touareg SUVs and SEAT Mii, Skoda Citigo and VW Up minicars. But the plant is expected to phase out minicars, thereby freeing up capacity.
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