The project of a battery factory for Aragon could once again remain a chimera. This is maintained by the Bloomberg agency, which on Friday reported that the Tata Motors automobile group, owner of Jaguar Land Rover, is leaning towards England over Spain as the final destination of its new gigafactory.
According to his sources, his decision would be motivated to a large extent by the package of support measures that London would have offered him so that they choose their land over the option of the town of Zuera (Zaragoza). Even so, they assure that the decision is not yet final and that the company could change its mind.
The weight of institutional collaboration for the company's final decision is not new. In March, the Financial Times already reported that Tata was demanding 500 million pounds sterling (almost 570 million euros) in government aid to implement the gigafactory in English territory.
For the British Government, capturing this facility is of paramount importance, as Tata Motors is the largest employer in the car manufacturing sector in the UK.
In addition, the Stellantis firm recently warned London of the possibility of closing its plants in the country due to difficulties in the supply of batteries. The British Executive took note of the warning, especially after another project to implement a gigafactory failed due to the lack of an investment partner, which would have motivated them even more to take over the Tata project.
For its part, Aragón had high hopes of being able to house the new plant, which would entail a million-dollar investment and thousands of jobs. Among the assets of the territory are its belonging to the European Union -a competitive and industrial advantage compared to the additional costs that Brexit causes in Great Britain-, its weight in the renewable energy sector and its location and logistical muscle.
The regional president, the socialist Javiar Lambán, spoke today about the matter with the Minister of Industry, Héctor Gómez, who told him he was "surprised" by the information published. "The Government of Spain continues to talk and negotiate with Tata, so this information does not obey reality," the president assured the press.
A few months ago, Lambán had the bad experience of seeing how, after months of illusions and uncertainty, Volkswagen passed by and chose Sagunto (Valencia) instead of Aragón to install its new battery gigafactory, which will employ more than 3,000 people. .
With regard to Tata, the president has indicated on numerous occasions that his Executive has been complying with "all the prescriptions and demands" that the multinational raised, and that now the move had to be finished off by the Government of Spain. “We have done everything we had to do. But when it comes to talking about subsidies and the most relevant elements and magnitudes, we have nothing to say, ”he reiterated today.
Lambán has always defended that Aragón will at some point have a battery factory for electric cars, although his first great option escaped and the second seems to follow the same path.
"I have always said it and I maintain it, the options for Aragon to be the space where a battery factory for electric cars is located does not end in Tata, there are more options with a lot of credibility", he reaffirmed today.
