PSA Peugeot-Citroen could build its future electric models in Vigo or Madrid, Spain if it decides to assemble the cars in Europe, the French auto maker’s executive vice president told Spanish journalists in Paris.
“All the efficient factories will be candidates, including the Spanish ones,” a PSA official confirmed Jean-Marc Gales as saying. Gales added PSA has held early negotiations about the issue with the government and expects to make a decision in coming months.
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Gales said the Spanish factories are “vital” for PSA and that last month’s decision to assign a new “core range” emerging market model to Vigo demonstrates this. He noted Vigo’s assembly costs are 25% lower than its French facilities and the plant is closer to key export markets in North Africa and the Mediterranean basin.
This is why the company chose the site over factories in Poland or Turkey, he added.
The news came as a boon for the key PSA factory employing 7,000 workers in northwestern Spain but one where layoffs have taken place in a bitter atmosphere in recent years.
It also provided a glimmer of hope for Spain’s wider car industry which has been hammered by a deep recession, the global economic downturn and the spectre of auto assembly moving to cheaper outposts in eastern Europe and the emerging markets.
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