Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – Volkswagen is going to inaugurate an industrial unit in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. The first project, according to a statement by the company head office, in Germany, is going to be a heavy truck assembly line to be completely supplied by vehicles produced in the factory the Brazilian subsidiary has in the city of Resende, in the southeastern Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro.
The trucks will be shipped to the Arab country in semi-disassembled kits (SKD, semi-knocked down). The production, according to the company, will start in 2006 with the assembly of one thousand vehicles, a capacity to be expanded to 3,000 units in future. Investment in the factory is estimated at 40 million euros, or US$ 53.6 million.
The agreement for the construction of a factory was signed on Sunday (12) by the world president of Volkswagen, Bernd Pischetsrieder, and by the Abu Dhabi crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also president of Mubadala Development Company, the state-owned company that promotes investment.
"This is going to be a very interesting connection between the Resende factory and Abu Dhabi. It is one more step in the improvement of relations between Brazil and the Arab countries. I am very happy with this news," stated the president of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (CCAB), Paulo Sérgio Atallah.
Up to October this year, Volkswagen Brazil was the only subsidiary of the German group to produce trucks, then the company started producing this kind of vehicle in Mexico.
Inaugurated in 1996 and the result of an investment of US$ 250 million, the Resende factory covers an area of 1 million square metres, with 100,000 square metres of built area, and houses not only the Volkswagen production line, but also a "modular consortium" which includes the main parts suppliers.
The plant, according to information supplied by the company, has the capacity to produce 40,000 vehicles a year, between trucks and buses, and employs 2,300 people. Apart from supplying the Brazilian market, the Resende unit also sells to Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
In Brazil, Volkswagen also has factories in São Bernardo do Campo, in São Paulo, also in southeastern Brazil, where they produce cars, and in São Carlos (São Paulo), where engines are made, in Taubaté (São Paulo), where they produce the Gol hatchback, the most sold car in Brazil, and in São José dos Pinhais, in the southern state of Paraná, where they produce the Golf and then Audi A3.
Holding
Apart from signing the contract for installation of the assembly line in Abu Dhabi, at the meeting between Pischetsrieder and Al Nahyan, the minutes for the establishment of a holding between Volkswagen and the state-owned investment companies in the emirates were also singed. This company will coordinate the local products of the German company. The holding will own 49% of the truck assembly line. The remaining 51% will be controlled by the Volkswagen commercial vehicle division.
