Magna Steyr Is Chock-Full Of Work, Says North American Factory Is Possible

Steyr, a subsidiary of Canadian giant Magna International, operates a single factory in Graz, Austria where it’s currently contracted to build the BMW 5-Series, Jaguar I-Pace, Jaguar E-Pace and Mercedes-Benz G-Class.

The company will soon also handle production of the all-new BMW Z4 and is developing an electric vehicle architecture with China’s BAIC Motor Corp.

With production at an all-time high, Magna Steyr believes its Austrian facility will turn out roughly 200,000 vehicles in 2018. But with so many projects, that might not be enough.

Speaking to Automotive News about where the company may turn if it decides to build a second factory, Magna chief executive Don Walker appeared open to a North American plant: “We get a lot of requests. It’s typically a unique vehicle, or a peak volume. But I think that if we had a plant here we’d be getting a lot of business.”

According to Walker, the site in Graz is fast approaching full capacity, but the company would need new customers to justify the cost of a second factory.

“We’re over capacity in the next couple of years as we continue to launch new vehicles. If we continue to get business over at Magna Steyr, then we would expand to a second location. It’s a possibility that we continue to look at.”

Even if Magna Steyr opted against building a second factory and instead took over an existing one in North America, it would still be very expensive. In fact, Walker said that a new body shop and general assembly line would almost have to be constructed to suit the needs of Steyr.