BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Volkswagen has announced that its New Small Family lineup of small cars with the bracing moniker of Up! will go into production in its Bratislava, Slovakia, facility starting in 2011.
The Up!, Space Up! and Space Up! Blue will be produced alongside VW's more expensive Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Skoda Octavia models already being manufactured in Slovakia. The total amount of investment in the project is estimated at the equivalent of $560.5 million.
According to Slovak media, the production capacity of the Bratislava plant will be increased to 400,000 vehicles a year after the New Small Family production line is put in operation.
"The launch of production which is scheduled for 2011 will add 1,500 new jobs to 7,800 jobs already at the plant," Volkswagen chief executive Andreas Tostmann said. He also said some 7,000 indirect jobs, more than half of which will be in Slovakia, will be created by VW's investment in the project.
The New Small Family cars are based on Volkswagen's Up! concepts. The plant will initially be responsible for building new three-door and five-door models for Volkswagen, Seat and Skoda.
Volkswagen initiated car production in Slovakia in 1991, and last year produced more than 188,000 vehicles there. This was a marked decline from 2007 figures, when the plant produced 249,000 vehicles.
Inside Line says: Volkswagen's new cars come closer to the showroom. — Evgeniy Vorotnikov, Correspondent
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