Greece has expressed its interest for VW’s new factory on the southern flank of Europe and Asia Minor competing against countries like Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.
During an interview on national television, the country’s Minister of Development and Investments, Adonis Georgiadis, said that the government has “already expressed its vivid interest to VW [for the new factory’s location]”.
“Greece is one of the competing countries”, said Georgiadis but added he can’t further elaborate due to the ongoing talks with the German car maker.
Related: Bulgaria, Romania Trying To Lure VW For New Factory After Freezing Turkey Decision
Back in early October, the VW Group announced that they are delaying the final decision to build a new multi-brand factory near Izmir, Turkey amid international criticism of the country’s military operations in Syria.
Since then, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and now Greece have expressed their interest for the contract. Although VW has not officially closed the door on Turkey just yet, it’s understood that the company’s officials are open to proposals from other countries.
The German automotive giant originally picked Turkey over Bulgaria for the location of its new factory, a surprise given Bulgaria is an EU member and Turkey is not. Reports suggest that the decision was taken following strong lobbying from Qatar, which holds a 14.6 percent stake in the VW Group.
The German Group’s new manufacturing plant is set to produce the next-generation of the VW Passat and the Skoda Superb, featuring an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles. The original plan for the factory was to launch production in 2022.
The company’s board is set to meet in mid-November and we expect that the site the new factory to be one of the main topics. We reached out to VW for a comment and will update once we get a response.
