China's SAIC Motor to build electric vehicle factory in Spain

A worker works at the assembly workshop of automaker SAIC Motor Company's Lingang base in Shanghai, east China, April 23, 2022. Seventy percent of Shanghai's 666 major enterprises have resumed production amid the COVID-19 resurgence, vice mayor Zhang Wei said Friday. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

The initial investment in the project is 200 million euros (232 million U.S. dollars), and it is expected to create more than 2,300 jobs locally.

MADRID, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Alfonso Rueda, president of Spain's Galician regional government, has said that the SAIC Motor, one of China's biggest automobile manufacturers, will build its first electric vehicle factory in Europe in Galicia.

The initial investment in the project is 200 million euros (232 million U.S. dollars), and it is expected to create more than 2,300 jobs locally. Construction of the factory will begin in 2027, with the goal of being operational by the end of 2028, according to Rueda.

The project will be located between the port of Ferrol and the nearby town of As Pontes, and is expected to have an annual production capacity of 120,000 vehicles. In addition, the project will also include an industrial zone near the local port for vehicle assembly and transportation, Rueda said.

While admitting "a long road lies ahead" for this "strategic industrial project," Rueda underlined that his office will accelerate the procedure for granting licenses.

The news followed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's four-day visit to China in April. Rueda thanked the central government for its "exemplary" co-operation and commitment to securing the project for the region.