VW Group will invest heavily in Slovakia plant, CEO Diess says

Volkswagen Group will invest heavily in its plant in Bratislava, Slovakia, instead of opening a new factory in Turkey, CEO Herbert Diess said.

VW has reassessed its capacity requirements because of the coronavirus pandemic and decided that it currently does not need an additional plant, Diess told Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe, in an interview.

The Bratislava plant builds the Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7, Audi Q8 and Porsche Cayenne SUVs, alongside the VW Up, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii minicars, according to Automotive News Europe's Assembly Plant Map. Bodies for the Bentley Bentayga SUV are also built at the factory and shipped to the brand's factory in Crewe, England.

VW will build a new assembly line and a new body shop as part of the expansion, which will cost nearly 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion.)

VW had planned to open a plant near Izmir on Turkey's western coast to build the next-generation VW Passat  and its sister model, the Skoda Superb, starting in 2022, with a maximum annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles. The two models will now be built in Slovakia.

Diess said the decision not to go ahead with the factory in Turkey would impact the automaker's vehicle sales in the key country.

"It remains a disadvantage that we cannot better develop the market there via a plant in Turkey," he said.

Automobilwoche will publish its full interview with Diess (in German) on November 16 in a special edition called Volkswagen ID. It can be ordered from www.automobilwoche.de/shop.