BRUSSELS-The European Commission on Friday gave its approval for $150 million of Czech state aid to a Hyundai Motor unit to build a manufacturing plant.
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech is building a new passenger car production plant in the Moravia-Silesia region of the Czech Republic.
The new plant would have an initial production capacity of 200,000 passenger cars a year, which could be expanded to 300,000 vehicles annually by 2012.
The aid is a direct cash grant with transfer of land at a reduced price. It is combined with the regional aid that Hyundai has already been granted. The total regional aid package for the company amounts to nearly $264 million, for an eligible investment cost of $1.55 billion.
“I am very glad to endorse aid for this important project, which will contribute to regional development and job creation in the Czech Republic,” commented Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.
The investment is part of an overall investment project in the car sector, aimed at creating 4,400 new jobs by 2011.
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Korean Hyundai Motor Co.
