António Pedro Santos/Lusa
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, during the signing ceremony of the joint statement of intent between the Volkswagen group and the government with a view to the production of ID. Every1 at Volkswagen Autoeuropa facilities.
Without promises of new jobs, executive advances with the “maximum aid” allowed by the EU – 30 million euros. New ‘XL’ press and new painting ship also “parked” in AutoEuropa this Tuesday.
The government and the agency for Portugal’s investment and foreign trade (AICEP) are available to assign a 30 million euros support In investments in decarbonization foreseen by Volkswagen Autoeuropa, the Minister of Economy said Tuesday.
“The Government and AICEP claim to be available to attribute to the investment project to develop by Volkswagen in Portugal maximum level of aid ”permitted by European ruleswhich corresponds to “30 million euros”, said the Minister of Economics and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, at the signing ceremony of the joint statement of intentions between the Volkswagen group and the government with a view to producing in Portugal of the new vehicle, in the facilities of Autoeuropa, in Palmela, Setúbal district.
According to the company, this value is part of a total of more than 600 million euros of investment In that industrial unit by the end of 2028, which had already been announced. A good part of this amount is intended for process decarbonization to reduce the impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 90%compared to 2021.
Also part of the 600 million cake the production of the new car, the new painting unit and new ‘xl’ press, whose production start by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on a visit to the factory that preceded the signing of the agreement.
The Minister of Economics has classified this investment from the “strategic” autoeuropa to “accelerate the potential exporter of the National Economy”, whose increased weight in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) considers essential to economic growth and the convergence of Portuguese income with those of the rest of Europe.
“Only economic growth allows people to increase people and support the social state”binded Castro Almeida.
Autoeuropa is the only car company in Portugal that has a press area, and the nearest is 1,200 km in Barcelona.
The new XL press, which went into production this Tuesday, replacing the one used 30 years ago, corresponded to a total investment of 52.8 million euros.
Speaking to journalists, the head of presses, Mak da Silva, who started working on this project in 2019, explained that this new, technologically more advanced equipment, allowed to transform “people who carried pieces” into “specialized operators” who handle robotsthrough formation to this transition of functions which, he said, he made the number of workers in that line stood the same.
Questioned by journalists, the director general and chairman of the Volkswagen Autoeuropa Management Council, Thomas Engel Gunther, said he was also Early on to know if the production of the new ID.every1 and the new T-ROC will allow you to increase the number of jobs.
“I hope so, it depends on how the markets develop, not only depends on us, I think the focus is to be able to keep jobs,” he said.
Volkswagen Autoeuropa was responsible for 90.5% of light vehicles produced in Portugal in 2024, an increase of 7.2% compared to 2023, and last year 4,842 workers had.
