Home PARTNER STORIES PARTNER NEWS Bratislava gears up for the production of Superb and Passat

Bratislava gears up for the production of Superb and Passat

Volkswagen is preparing to kickstart the production of the Passat and Superb car models

Dec 8, 2022

bratislava_volkswagen — Photo Credit: SITA/Branislav Bibel

Volkswagen Slovakia, the largest production company in Slovakia, is preparing its automotive plant in Devínská Nová Ves for the production of two new models. Despite the uncertain conditions in the automotive sector caused by the pandemic, and the ongoing chip crisis and war in Ukraine, the automotive giant continues with its work. Thus, the start of production should be next year.

Even casual passers-by can already notice the extensive changes within the Bratislava car company. On the site that once functioned as an off-road track intended for testing new cars, the construction work of the logistics hall project is underway. A large building is already growing on the other side of the main gate to the plant.

The investment will supposedly reach 500 million EUR

Extensive reconstruction is taking place mainly behind the factory gates, the area of which has recently exceeded two square kilometres. The construction will expand the original hall by more than half its size. Within this project alone, the announced investment, according to the investment plan, should reach 210 million euros.

The Bratislava plant is one of the largest within Volkswagen

According to the plan for 2020, the investment, connected with the allocation of the production of two new models to the Bratislava car company, is to reach a value of 500 million euros. Further investments in the amount of over 500 million were announced by the head of the Bratislava plant, Oliver Grünberg, in April. Within the decade, Volkswagen will have reinvested one billion euros in Slovakia.

Although the Volkswagen Passat and Škoda Superb are very similar cars that can be produced on the same line, they are different from the models the factory has manufactured thus far. The assignment of Passat and Superb production to Slovakia from 2023 (originally, the company wanted them to be produced in Turkey) is to help optimise the capacity utilisation of the plant in Slovakia.

The Bratislava plant has long been profiled as one of the largest and the most complex within the entire concern. It has been producing a large number of models of numerous types of cars for several years.

The fact that the conditions in the entire automotive sector have been really extreme for almost three years was also confirmed by the chairman of the board of Volkswagen Slovakia, Oliver Grünberg.

650 trucks per day

The core of production, the Volkswagen Touareg, Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7 and Q8 SUVs, fill more than two-thirds of the plant’s capacity. The launch of new models also means increased demands on logistics, which currently equips the plant with an average of 650 trucks with supplied parts daily. The logistics centre, which Volkswagen began to build in 2017, covers an area of 15 football fields.

The Automotive business is almost like a lottery

In connection with the arrival of new models, Volkswagen is creating hundreds of jobs in production, logistics and partners. Last year, Volkswagen Slovakia achieved a turnover of 9.53 billion EUR, with the Bratislava plant producing almost 309,000 cars.