Volkswagen Group, the largest automobile manufacturer in Europe and the second largest in the world, announced on Friday it is looking for production location in Eastern Europe. MEP Siegfried Muresan (PNL, EPP) has sent on Monday an open letter to Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and to the Minister of Economy regarding this topic.
“The decision is part of the new plan for the Volkswagen plants. The plants in Emden and Hanover (Germany) will manufacture electric cars, whereas the production of Passat will be relocated from Emden to the Kvasiny plant in the Czech Republic. Thus, the production of Skoda Karoq and Seat Ateca, now in Kvasiny, would have to be relocated as of 2023 to another plant the group wants to open in Eastern Europe. The decision made by Volkswagen confirms the increasing interest of the auto industry in Eastern Europe. In the past years important players in this industry have decided to invest in the region, among them Jaguar Land Rover in Slovakia, Volkswagen in Poland and Mercedes Benz and BMW in Hungary,” Muresan wrote, realitatea.net informs.
Muresan further says that since the Ford investment in 2008 in Craiova, the large auto producers have chosen neighbouring countries for building their plants. The MEP claims the two large automobile plants in Romania should represent a trump card for the new investments, but the negative issues are related to infrastructure and the low interest of authorities.
“We should not miss this new opportunity. A third auto producer in Romania could consolidate the industry and would represent guarantee that the other two manufacturers would remain on the market over long term,” Muresan says.
He also mentions thousands of new jobs, the fact that 13% of the GDP is generated by the auto industry.
MEP Siegfried Muresan requests PM Viorica Dancila about the plans to consolidate the domestic auto market, to stimulate new investments. “Is there a plan to capitalize on the new investment opportunities from the Government in the event Volkswagen will request information? (…) Mrs. Prime Minister, in the event there is no Government strategy to attract new investors in the auto industry, would you consider the initiation of such strategic plan to stimulate the relocation of the production facilities belonging to Volkswagen from the Czech Republic to Romania?” the letter concludes.