MADRID (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s Spanish unit SEAT will go ahead with a mega project to make electric vehicles and batteries after overcoming initial reservations about government subsidies, it said on Wednesday.
The SEAT-led project, in which 60 other Volkswagen-linked companies will also take part, foresees an investment of 10 billion euros ($10.06 billion) to electrify Spain’s auto industry and turn the country into a European hub for e-vehicle and battery production.
The government said last month VW-SEAT would receive 397.4 million euros of the 877 million total in the first phase of the electric vehicle financing programme using EU pandemic recovery funds. Although it was the carmaker that received the largest allocation, SEAT initially said the funding was not sufficient.
“Today is a historic day for all of us, as we take a strategic step: SEAT S.A., the Volkswagen Group, PowerCo and the Future: Fast Forward partners have accepted the PERTE VEC resolution and together we will invest 10 billion euros in Spain,” SEAT chief Wayne Griffiths said in a video.
($1 = 0.9939 euros)
(Reporting by Andrei Khalip and Jessica Jones)