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Karam el Shenawy
November 10, 2022
On the last day of the term but with a confirmation that will mean an investment of 10,000 million euros in our country to make the gigafactory of batteries in the Valencian Community a reality.
Not even in the best suspense movie would they have done as well as Volkswagen. We explain ourselves. Because the German Group has waited until the last day of the term to accept the aid present in the Perte VEC. In total, the German conglomerate will receive almost 400 million euros of public aid with European funds (397.37 million to be more exact) to keep his ‘Future: Fast Forward’ project alive. The same that will allow an investment of 10,000 million euros by the Group to, among others, build the battery gigafactory in Sagunto (Valencia).
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“Today is a historic day for all of us”, assured the president of Seat, Wayne Griffiths, who confirmed that the granting of this public aid (which has represented 45% of the total of the 877.22 million funds to be distributed among the various companies) will allow Spain to “put it on electric wheels just as Seat did 70 years ago”. To the construction of the battery gigafactory, which until a few days ago was in the air due to the lack of funds (less than 170 million euros were offered in a first call), will be added the electrification of the plants from both Martorell and Landaben. In this way, Seat will lead the development of Small BEV platform cars for the Volkswagen Group “democratizing access to sustainable mobility in Europe with electric cars made in Spain”, as Griffiths himself has assured.
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The voices in favor of this acceptance have not been long in coming, beginning with the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, who has described this confirmation as “great news”, evidencing the “commitment of this company to turn Spain into an electric mobility hub since despite being the second European car manufacturer, we were falling behind in that electrification”. For its part, the Minister of Finance and Public Administration, María Jesús Montero He has also expressed his agreement with said announcement, commenting that “this speaks very well of the investment opportunities in our country and the support that the Government of Spain is providing. I hope that many other industries will come” also asking for the need to “investigate with a new technology that allows lowering the price of the product because obviously the future is painted green and technologies that use fossil fuels will have to be eliminated”. Similarly, the Chairman of the works council of Volkswagen NavarraAlfredo Morales, has affirmed that the decision of the Volkswagen Group and Seat to accept the 397 million Perte VEC “is very positive news” and has pointed out that “it has to give the peace of mind that we need to start the process of negotiating the pact for the future, which is the one that has to give us what we need to guarantee employment beyond 2026”.
The first of others?
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Finally, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has applauded the “extraordinary news” the confirmation of the arrival of the Volkswagen gigafactory in Sagunto, which adds to “many others, that a great German and Spanish brand such as Volkswagen SEAT has said that it is committed to the future of the automobile sector in our country and also to the implementation of a gigafactory in Sagunto, in the Valencian Community. Along the same lines, Sánchez highlighted that “a few days ago he was with a Chinese company2 that plans to build “another gigafactory in Extremadura”, and “a few days ago he met with representatives of a large maritime transport company such as Maersk, which is going to invest in Andalusia 10,000 million euros in the coming years to convert Andalusia and the whole of Spain into that great benchmark of the ‘hub’ of maritime and ecological transport”.
