Even the king and queen of Spain turned up today at a ceremony to mark a PSA Peugeot Citroën manufacturing milestone.
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The automaker’s plant in Vigo celebrated its 50th birthday at a special event. PSA said it is a major player in the local economy and the largest company in the country’s Galicia region.
Since the plant was built in the region’s most-populated city in 1958, it has been joined in an ‘automotive cluster’ of 87 suppliers.
In 2007, Vigo produced 547,000 vehicles, claiming the title of the group’s largest plant. Initial output in 1958 was 400 Citroen 2CV models.
Vigo now makes the Citroën C4 Picasso, and Grand Picasso, Xsara Picasso, Berlingo First and new Berlingo, plus the Peugeot Partner Origin and new Partner.
During today’s celebration, PSA chairman Thierry Peugeot highlighted Vigo’s importance in the automaker’s manufacturing base and praised its contribution to a vibrant European industry.
The outlook in the country is gloomy, however. As reported by just-auto’s correspondent recently, new car sales there in June were off 31% to 114,958 units while first half sales were down 17.6% to 702,365, according to industry group ANFAC.
