The German automaker Volkswagen has decided to build its new Shkoda and Syat manufacturing plant in Turkey, not in Romania or Bulgaria, the Haber Turk newspaper reported on its website.
As a result of the efforts to persuade the German giant to invest in Turkey for more than a decade, Volkswagen has decided to open a factory in the country that will employ 5,000 people a year and produce the models of Skoda and Syat.
According to the AutomobilWoche magazine, the Turkish Knowledge Fund in the field of car production has played an important role in pushing the German company to make a decision.
The report said VW’s decision to invest in Turkey came after relations between Ankara and Berlin were normalized. Tension in bilateral relations slowed after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Germany in September, giving impetus to investment.
In November, the magazine reported that Volkswagen plans to open a new factory in Eastern Europe and the potential locations are Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania. The company’s president, Herbert Des, said the automaker was looking for a new multi-center plant in Eastern Europe, to begin production after 2022.
According to the magazine, the new plant will have between 4,000 and 5,000 employees. The factory will produce the Shkoda Karuk and Syat Attica SUVs, which are currently manufactured in the Czech city of Kvassyny.
It added that the need for the unit had increased after Volkswagen confirmed that it would transfer the German Passat production to the Skvash plant in the Czech Republic, where the world’s largest automaker is accelerating its investment in emissions-free cars.
Volkswagen factories in the German cities of Emden and Hanover will be converted into electric cars by 2022.