VW cancels Turkey plant, Anti-Trust Board probes German auto imports

 

Volkswagen drops plans for new plant in Turkey, citing pandemic

German automaker Volkswagen Wednesday said it was dropping its plans for a new factory in Turkey in response to a drop in demand for new cars during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The background is that the coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on car markets and the situation is a different one from pre-corona,” VW spokesman Christoph Ludewig told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

On the other hand, a Turkish official told Reuters that Volkswagen had suspended plans for the new plant in the country due to coronavirus uncertainty and that the company could reassess the matter once the pandemic is contained.

The automaker, Germany’s largest, had been planning to open the factory in Manisa on the western coast of Turkey.

The 1.3 billion euro ($1.4 billion) facility was to build the Volkswagen brand Passat and the Superb, a sedan from its subsidiary Skoda, starting in 2022 with an annual capacity of 300,000 units.

The carmaker in October last year decided to postpone the final decision on whether to build a car plant in Turkey as a result of the country’s military offensive in northern Syria.

Turkey opens investigation into Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes

Turkey’s Competition Authority opened an investigation against German automotive car manufacturers Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

On June 11, the authority discussed findings from a preliminary investigation and decided to open an investigation according to a press release on Wednesday.

Brands being investigated under automotive giant Volkswagen also include Audi and Porsche.

The investigation included claims on the maximum speed limits for the radar speed control system and roof hatches, the use of gasoline particulate filters, sensitive information on selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology and AdBlue tanks.

It can’t be concluded that the Anti-Trust Board probe is related to VW plant decision, but the timing is clearly very suggestive.

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Published By: Atilla Yeşilada

GlobalSource Partners’ Turkey Country Analyst Atilla Yesilada is the country’s leading political analyst and commentator. He is known throughout the finance and political science world for his thorough and outspoken coverage of Turkey’s political and financial developments. In addition to his extensive writing schedule, he is often called upon to provide his political expertise on major radio and television channels. Based in Istanbul, Atilla is co-founder of the information platform Istanbul Analytics and is one of GlobalSource’s local partners in Turkey. In addition to his consulting work and speaking engagements throughout the US, Europe and the Middle East, he writes regular columns for Turkey’s leading financial websites VATAN and www.paraanaliz.com and has contributed to the financial daily Referans and the liberal daily Radikal.