ZAGREB, October 22, 2019 – Croatia is going into the fight for an investment worth over a billion euro, which is how much German car maker Volkswagen plans to invest in a new factory, Večernji List daily said on Tuesday, citing sources at the Ministry of the Economy.
The Germans planned on building the factory in Turkey but ditched the plan over Ankara’s military offensive in Syria, Večernji List says, adding that, according to well-informed sources, Croatia will be included in a new round of talks between Volkswagen and the interested countries, namely Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.
Volkswagen plans to produce 300,000 vehicles annually and employ 4,000 people in the new factory, the newspaper says.
The German company wanted to build the factory near Izmir, and the project was estimated at 1.3 billion euro. The plan was to begin the production of the Passat and the Skoda Superb in 2022 as the company seeks to relocate the production of the two models from its plants in Germany and the Czech Republic to produce electric vehicles there.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was so thrilled over Volkswagen’s decision to build its factory in Turkey that he ordered that all government vehicles should be replaced with Passats, Večernji List said.
More news about Croatia’s car industry can be found in the Business section.
