Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) is currently not considering the construction of a new VW plant near Izmir in view of the Turkish military offensive in Syria.
"The images that we see from northern Syria are appalling," said Weil, who also sits on the Volkswagen Supervisory Board as a representative of the major shareholder of Lower Saxony. The military offensive is an obvious breach of international law, which has triggered a huge wave of refugees and a general tightening of the security situation: "I can not imagine that Volkswagen will invest billions in Turkey under these conditions." According to his knowledge, this opinion is also shared by the board of the car manufacturer.
As Weil has to understand, it is currently a delay and not a complete rejection of the VW plans in Turkey. "The negotiations are still not finalized on the project." He hopes that the situation in Turkey normalized.
Earlier, VW had informed that the board had postponed the decision for a new plant near Izmir. Already on Monday, it was said on demand that the company was watching the current situation carefully and was worried about the current developments.
Actually, the work should have been decided by mid-October. Previously, it was said for a long time that one was in "final negotiations". There was much to suggest that Turkey would be the location against Bulgaria. Weil says the next board meeting is scheduled for mid-November.
Well trained workers in Turkey
The plant, for which a location near the metropolis of Izmir is being discussed, is to build vehicles of several Group brands, including the VW Passat and the Skoda Superb. Volkswagen wants to invest more than one billion euros, the capacity should be at more than 300,000 vehicles annually.
According to information from the news agency dpa, the details of the investment were largely lashed. The decisive factor with regard to the EU country, Bulgaria, is therefore the significantly better profitability of the project in Turkey. Not least government subsidies provided benefits for a construction in Turkey.
In addition, there is already a well-developed infrastructure of suppliers and there are well-trained workers: Since the 1960s, manufactured by the manufacturer Tofas in Turkey Fiat models under license; Tofas has also developed commercial vehicles for Fiat, Opel, Peugeot and Citroen, which are also produced in Turkey.
Economic pressure from the USA
However, at the beginning of the week, the US government announced plans to significantly increase tariffs on the import of Turkish steel, to break off talks on a new trade agreement and, if necessary, to impose sanctions on individuals. Thus, not only is behind the political stability of the region a big question mark, but also behind the economic perspective of Turkey. Other trading partners could take similar action as the US.
That comes to the Wolfsburgern very inconvenient. In one month, the new round of planning is on the agenda of the Group Supervisory Board. In this Volkswagen sets its billions of investment budget for the next five years. Regularly, the plant occupancy with models and the utilization of the plant network is also a topic. The plans are complex: Volkswagen has more than 130 plants worldwide. Whether the situation calms down until mid-November and that an investment in Turkey then appears less risky economically as well as politically is at least questionable.
Volkswagen has already made a decision to build a multi-brand plant for Eastern Europe some time ago. Since Turkey is considered as a possible location, it had given due to the human rights situation in the country before the start of the Turkish military offensive in northern Syria criticism.