Qatar Tribune

Carmaker SEAT to build Spain’s 1st electric battery plant

-

SPANISH carmaker SEAT said Wednesday that it plans to build Spain’s first electric car battery plant as part of a 10-billion-euro investment in the country’s electric car initiative.

The Spanish government said last year that it would convert the country’s car manufactur­ing industry, the secondlarg­est n Europe, with funds from the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery plan.

SEAT, which is part of the Volkswagen Group, plans to build the battery plant in Sagunto, a town near the eastern city of Valencia. The company said the Volkswagen Group would also electrify SEAT’s existing car plants in the northern city of Pamplona and Martorell, a town near Barcelona.

SEAT President Wayne Griffiths said the 10 billioneur­o investment would allow the company to make electric cars for both domestic sales and the European export market. SEAT had already committed to producing an electric car in the 20,000- to 25,000-euro ($20,000-25,000) range.

“This project will democratiz­e access to sustainabl­e mobility in Europe with electric cars made in Spain,” Griffiths said.

The announceme­nt included the acceptance by SEAT of an offer of 397 million euros ($399 million) from Spain’s government that came from Europe’s EU’s Next Generation funds.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez celebrated the deal. The Spanish government has described electric vehicles as a priority that would both create quality blue collar jobs and meet Europe’s ban on sales of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2035.

“Magnificen­t news that Volkswagen Group and SEAT reaffirm their commitment to Spain to transform their plants in Martorell and Pamplona and to build a battery factory in Sagunto as part of our electric car initiative,” Sánchez wrote in Spanish on Twitter.

“We are re-industrial­izing our country and leading the energy transition,” he said.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Qatar