Volkswagen and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen are working together to attract more parts makers to Slovakia.
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VW has a car-assembly plant in Bratislava. PSA will open a factory in nearby Trnava in late 2006.
Two other assembly plants will open within two years: Kia in Zilina, north of Trnava, and a PSA-Toyota joint venture in neighbouring Kolin, Czech Republic.
“Today we have a rather slim and marginal manufacturing base,” Wolfgang Rohroff, manager of the supply division at VW Bratislava, told Automotive News Europe. “I ask suppliers, why aren’t you here?”
VW and PSA have developed a combined list of what they will need in coming years. Both automakers are asking Tier 1 suppliers to identify potential problem areas. Rohroff said VW and PSA want to include Kia in the recruiting drive.
His goal is to get foreign suppliers, particularly Tier 2s and Tier 3s, to open operations in Slovakia well before 2008. By then, the combined production of the VW, PSA and Kia plants will be 800,000 units annually, estimates VUB Bank. VW built 280,000 vehicles last year and is preparing to add the Audi Q7 crossover vehicle next year.
The VW, PSA and Kia plants are part of a growing regional production centre that goes beyond Slovakia. There are 13 assembly plants within 200 miles of Trnava, with VW’s Poznan, Poland, factory just outside that radius.
