Skoda importer and Auto Cacak owner, Milenko Kostic has said there is a possibility of Volkswagen relocating its factory from Ukraine to Serbia.
Kostic adds that the factory has not achieved expected results in the production of Skoda models – one of the 12 brands of Volkswagen, the biggest car manufacturer in the world.
Kostic pointed out that important people from Volkswagen and Skoda management contacted him “two days ago” asking for his assessment of the business environment in Serbia, the daily reported on Tuesday.
“They asked me about average wages, the training of the workforce – in general, about everything related to business conditions,” Kostic said, adding that “there is smoke, but whether there will be fire, we will know soon.”
As he pointed out, “the fact is that we are in the game, but Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania are all competing.” In this race, Kostic continued, the offer of the state will be crucial, and the Germans will go to that country which gives them more.
What worries Kostic is Volkswagen’s demands.
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Other than around the town of Nis and in Vojvodina, there’s hardly 300-400 hectares of free acres to build a factory anywhere, and therefore Kostic is not ruling out the possibility that a new plant might move into Fiat’s premises in Kragujevac, as it is not yet known whether Fiat will definitely stay in Serbia.
“That would be ideal because there is already a factory and thousands of skilled workers there, but I’m concerned about the capacity because the current Fiat plant can produce 200,000 cars annually, while the Germans want the capacity to be more than 300,000,” Kostic said.
According to him, more details will be known after the Belgrade Motor Show (held March 22-30), that will be attended by “important people from Volkswagen.” Kostic also remarked that he “regrets that we missed the chance to bring this brand to Serbia 15 years ago.”
As an indication of Volkswagen’s arrival to Serbia, Kostic mentions Volkswagen’s biggest parts supplier, Vorwerk building a factory here, near the town of Cacak.
(RTV, 18.03.2019)
http://www.rtv.rs/sr_lat/ekonomija/aktuelno/folksvagen-pogon-iz-ukrajine-seli-u-srbiju_1001543.html
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