ROME – Seven billion euros to electrify Spain. It is the mammoth program announced by Seat and the Volkswagen group and, if we pass from words to deeds, it could represent the largest industrial investment in the history of the Iberian peninsula. At the heart of the project, dubbed “Future: Fast Forward”, is the installation of a battery cell factory in Sagunto, near Valencia.
“A very important project for Volkswagen, for Spain and for the whole of Europe”, declared Thomas Schmall, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Seat. “Our ambition is to electrify Spain and we are ready to invest over 7 billion euros together with external suppliers for the electrification of our plants in Martorell and Pamplona and the localization of the value chain of the production of electric batteries in Valencia” ,
In order to be ready to start having an annual production capacity of 40 GWh as early as 2026, construction of the Valencia plant is expected to begin by the end of this year and, once completed, will employ more than 3,000 people. “In Valencia, we will build nothing less than the next generation of cell production: a standardized factory, which produces Volkswagen’s state-of-the-art unified cell and powered by renewable energy, thus enabling sustainable battery production. It will create a strong driving effect for the entire battery value chain in Spain and beyond, ”added Schmall.
In the meantime, the Volkswagen group has announced that the Cupra brand is working on the preview of a new electric SUV, whose commercial launch is set for 2024. Nothing is yet known, except that it will be about 4 and a half meters long and that the plug-in hybrid variant will benefit from a new generation PHEV technology thanks to which it will be able to travel around 100 km in fully electric mode. The new electrified SUV will be produced together with the Audi Q3 Sportback at the Györ plant in Hungary.