Hyundai Motor has finally announced long-awaited plans to build a huge plant in the Czech Republic.
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The BBC said the EUR1bn (US$1.2bn) factory in the Moravia-Silesia region will produce about 300,000 cars a year and employ 3,000 people.
The Czech government reportedly has given about EUR200m in tax breaks and other investment incentives to draw Hyundai to the high unemployment region.
The BBC said the Hyundai deal would be one of the biggest foreign direct investments in the Czech Republic’s history and economists say it could boost economic growth by up to 1.3% a year.
The broadcaster noted that the Czech economy last year received a similar boost from the opening of a massive Toyota Peugeot Citroen car plant in Bohemia, which employs 3,000 workers.
The Hyundai plant is due to begin production in October 2008, and the government hopes it will create an extra 9,000 jobs indirectly, the report added.
The BBC said the deal is expected to be signed in May, after it has been approved by Hyundai bosses, the Czech Government and local authorities.
Hyundai first mooted building a plant in the Czech Republic in 2002, as part of its strategy to increase production in overseas markets, the report said.
“This location will provide an ideal strategic base for our European manufacturing operations,” it quoted Kim In-seo, Hyundai’s senior vice-president, as saying.
