The Government has signed an investment contract with British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover after an extraordinary Cabinet meeting on Friday. The carmaker, owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, has opted for Nitra, west Slovakia, to construct a new production plant with an annual output of up to 300,000 vehicles. Three carmakers already have plants in Slovakia - Volkswagen in Bratislava, PSA Peugeot-Citroen in Trnava and Kia in Teplička nad Váhom near Žilina.
The memorandum of understanding between the government and the British company was signed August 11, 2015. The carmaker chose Slovakia after a detailed analysis of several localities in Europe, the US and Mexico. The Slovak advantage was the developed suppliers' network and reasonable logistic infrastructure. "This investment is the biggest in the European continent within the past 7 years," said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico after signing the agreement on Friday. Its cost should exceed €1 billion. In connection to this investment, the government has allocated a 130 million euro budget for assets. "Although this number might seem high, it's important to realise that it's only 9% of the whole investment," said Robert Fico.
The publicly available "Automotive Nitra Project" states as part of the EIA process that the factory, with an annual output of between 150,000 and 300,000 cars, will create 2,000-4,000 new jobs. It's expected that the construction work could begin next year, with operations at the 200-300-hectare greenfield site to be launched in 2018 or 2019.
