Hyundai has chosen the Czech Republic as the base for an ambitious plan to build nearly a third of a million cars per year in Europe.
The South Korean manufacturer today announced plans to build a huge plant in the Czech Republic. It will cost £700m to build, employ 3000 people and be capable of manufacturing 300,000 cars per year. It is due to start production in 2008. Hyundai is not released details of which models might be assigned to the new plant, which is in the Moravia-Silesia region of the country.
The Czech government has adopted an aggressive strategy in attracting car manufacturers; last year a factory in Bohemia started building the Toyota Aygo, Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 superminis.
Hyundai is branching out from its traditional South Korean manufacturing base. Last spring it announced plans to build a second factory in India, taking its annual production there to 400,000 cars. And many of its cars now undergo research and development at Russelsheim, Germany.
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