Volkswagen Group has postponed the final decision whether to build a car plant in Turkey, a company spokesman said, amid international criticism of the country’s military operation in Syria and concerns about potential reputational fallout.
Earlier this month, VW established a subsidiary in Turkey’s western Manisa province when the automaker said that it was still in the final stages of negotiation and that it had not made a final decision on the factory.
The Turkish plant is scheduled to build the next-generation VW Passat and Skoda Superb midsize model lines with a maximum annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, according to an internal document seen by Automotive News Europe.
Its production start was scheduled for 2022.
VW also considered sites in Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and northern Africa as the plant’s location.
