Volkswagen Autoeuropa

Last updated
Volkswagen Autoeuropa
Industry Automotive industry
FoundedDecember 3, 1991
Founder Volkswagen Group
Products Volkswagen T-Roc
Stamped parts
Number of employees
4,980 Decrease2.svg (2022)
Parent Volkswagen Group
Website https://www.volkswagenautoeuropa.pt/

Volkswagen Autoeuropa Lda. is an automotive assembly plant, located in the city of Palmela, near Lisbon, Portugal. Formed in 1991 as a joint venture between Ford and Volkswagen, it began operations in 1995 and from 1999 became fully owned by Volkswagen when Ford left the joint venture. [1] It is the largest foreign industrial investment in Portugal. [2] It is currently the production site for the Volkswagen T-Roc.

Contents

History

Cars produced by Autoeuropa at the Setubal port, 2019 Vehiculos en el puerto de Setubal, Portugal, 2019-05-24, DD 02.jpg
Cars produced by Autoeuropa at the Setúbal port, 2019

After the signature of a joint venture agreement between Volkswagen Group and Ford in July 1991, [3] the 2 million m2 plant was built in four years, including a surrounding industrial park on which key suppliers are located. The plant and surrounding industrial park cost in total 1.970 M€.

Opened as a 50/50 joint venture, its initial purpose was to assemble a communal-designed MPV model sold under three marques: Volkswagen Sharan, SEAT Alhambra, and Ford Galaxy. Producing these vehicles, Volkswagen Autoeuropa almost reached its production limit of 172,500 units per year.

However, when Ford left the joint venture and the model life-cycle approached its end, Volkswagen took ownership of the plant and production declined considerably. Under Volkswagen's internal bidding system, the plant had to compete for new models with other Volkswagen plants, while threatening to close the plant and to give concessions to the workers and the State.

Eventually, AutoEuropa won the production rights of the new convertible/coupé-only Volkswagen Eos from late 2005, producing just 79,896 vehicles of the original models plus the Eos. In 2008 the plant started production of the third generation Volkswagen Scirocco, and presently[ when? ] employs 3,000 people on site, 2,350 supplier jobs on the industrial park, and an additional 3,750 supplier jobs within Portugal.

As the existing models come to the end of their life cycles, the plant will need to compete for new models from 2010 onwards. It was proposed that in 2009 to prepare the production line for the replacement, [4] although the economic crisis will delay that model.

On July 1, 2013, car number 2,000,000 rolled off the assembly line, a Volkswagen Sharan 2.0 TDI Highline. [5]

In December 2016, the plant won the production rights for the new compact crossover, Volkswagen T-Roc. [6]

In March 2020, SEAT Alhambra is discontinued, [7] [8] and was followed in October 2022 by the final Sharan leaving the assembly line, [9] leaving the T-Roc as the main product.

Autoeuropa was selected for the production of the 2025 hybrid replacement to the T-Roc and will attract €600 million investment from Volkswagen. [10]

Production

Year1995199619971998199920002001200220032004
Production41,201119,042131,400138,890137,267126,191136,758130,007109,64795,660
Year2005200620072008200920102011201220132014
Production79,89681,83593,60994,10086,008101,284133,100112,55091,200102,240
Year20152016201720182019202020212022--
Production102,15885,126110,256287,024254,600192,000-231,100 [11] --

[12]

Production by model

YearTotal Volkswagen Eos Volkswagen Scirocco Volkswagen Sharan/SEAT Alhambra
200793,60955,560-38,049
200894,10043,53420,47229,897
YearTotal Volkswagen Eos Volkswagen Scirocco Volkswagen Sharan SEAT Alhambra Volkswagen T-Roc
2012112,55011,13833,62048,39919,393-
201391,2007,65123,40040,15919,990-
2014102,2406,55723,57349,49822,612-
2015102,1584,55916,25153,42327,925-
201685,126-11,96341,94931,214-
2017110,256-8,19945,69533,63822,724
2018287,024--30,45919,588236,977
2019254,600--25,68123,015205,904
2020192,000----192,000
2021------
2022231,100----231,100

[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Current production

Former production

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References

  1. ↑ "FORD AND VW END MINIVAN PARTNERSHIP". Automotive News Europe. 12 October 1998. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  2. ↑ "Volkswagen Autoeuropa Lda". Volkswagen Newsroom. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  3. ↑ "VW AutoEuropa History of Volkswagen Autoeuropa". volkswagenautoeuropa.pt. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "VW Autoeuropa garante produção nos próximos 5 anos - Expresso.pt". Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  5. ↑ "Volkswagen Autoeuropa atinge 2 milhões de unidades" (PDF) (in Portuguese). volkswagenautoeuropa.pt. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "Volkswagen Autoeuropa celebra 25 Anos" (PDF) (in Portuguese). volkswagenautoeuropa.pt. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  7. ↑ "Seat Alhambra discontinued".
  8. ↑ "Seat MPV discontinued". 27 March 2020.
  9. ↑ "Last VW Sharan to come off AutoEuropa production line". Portugal Resident. 14 October 2022. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  10. ↑ "VW plant to produce new hybrid to replace T-Roc in 2025". Econews.pt. 5 June 2023. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  11. ↑ "Volkswagen Autoeuropa Lda". Volkswagen Newsroom. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  12. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2017-08-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ↑ "VW Autoeuropa garante produção nos próximos 5 anos - Expresso.pt". Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  14. ↑ "Oje - o Jornal Economico - Negócios - Autoeuropa produz mais carros em 2008 face a 2007". Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  15. ↑ "Jornal de Negócios Online". Archived from the original on 2009-06-20. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  16. ↑ "Oje - o Jornal Economico - Negócios - Autoeuropa reduz produção no primeiro trimestre de 2009". Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  17. ↑ http://economia.publico.clix.pt/noticia.aspx?id=1357702%5B%5D
  18. ↑ "Volkswagen Konzern - AR 2016 - Volkswagen Passenger Cars". annualreport2016.volkswagenag.com. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  19. ↑ "Volkswagen Konzern - AR 2014 - Volkswagen Passenger Cars". annualreport2014.volkswagenag.com. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  20. ↑ "Annual Reports" . Retrieved 2018-03-16.
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