The Volkswagen group and Seat have insisted this morning on demanding from the central government and the European Union a decided "bet" on electrification during the institutional event in which King Felipe visited the works of the group's new battery assembly plant in Martorell. "Our commitment to electrification and decarbonization is clear and now we need the same commitment from the Spanish Government," said the CEO of Seat, Wayne Griffiths, during the conference after the monarch's construction visit. Along the same lines, the president of the board of directors of Seat and member of the executive board of Volkswagen, Thomas Schäfer, has recalled that "the continued support of the Spanish Government is crucial" while he calls on Europe to "bet on electromobility as central lever to make the Green Deal a reality.
On this occasion, the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, was present at the visit although he avoided greeting the king at the formal ceremony. However, they sat together in the front line at the time of the speeches. Today's situation contrasts with that of March 2021 when Aragonès did not participate in the previous visit of Felipe VI to the first automotive company in Spain. The Minister of Business, Roger Torrent, was also present at the event.
The planned investment for the assembly plant is about 300 million and it is expected to be operational in 2025. The planned workforce is about 400 direct workers and another 100 indirect workers. Union sources assured that the bulk of these employees will be current employees although some specific hiring is not ruled out. The battery cells that will be assembled will be those that will arrive by train from the new Sagunto factory that the Volkswagen group is building.
