New Assembly Plants All Over Europe

December 27, 2001

Sacramento - A few days ago we reported that Toyota and Peugeot had decided on a site in the Czech Republic to locate a new assembly plant where the two will assemble 300,000 vehicles a year. No sooner was the ink dry on that announcement and French automotive parts supplier Faurecia, which is owned by the PSA Peugeot Citroen Group, announced it would build a $22.5 manufacturing facility at Legnica, Poland. The plant, which will be Faurecia's fourth in Poland, will manufacture dashboards and interior parts for Renault and Nissan cars, as well as Volkswagen and Volvo. Faurecia said the plant would employ about 300 people.

In Germany, DaimlerChrysler and its affiliate Mitsubishi also announced plans to construct a new manufacturing plant, this one an engine plant to be sited in Koelleda in Eastern Germany. The two say they will invest $224 million in the plant that will be operated by a new joint venture company the two partners will create. The engines will be used to power a new Smart Car and a similar vehicle to be sold under the Mitsubishi brand. The 398,000 sq.ft plant will have capacity to build about 300,000 engines a year and should create some 500 jobs in a region of Europe where unemployment is high.