For the first time, Volkswagen is opening a factory in North America to build electric batteries. This new gigafactory will be built in 2024 in Ontario, a Canadian province where automobile production is already concentrated.
Everything in this upcoming opening of the Volkswagen electric battery plant is superlative, says our correspondent in Quebec, Pascale Guericolas. The size of the site first, 6 square kilometers, the staff to come in 2027, 3,000 employees, not counting the companies around, which will provide components of the final product. With this factory, the German firm becomes the first new manufacturer to set up in Canada in 35 years.
To convince the German giant to settle here, the authorities promise to build roads, to develop public health services. And Justin Trudeau also sells its labor on a silver platter. ” Canada’s advantage is Canadians themselves. People who know how to give the world what it seeks. Very qualified, reliable, but also happy, open and committed people. »
Financial benefits
By committing to 13.2 billion Canadian dollars (8.8 billion euros) over 10 years with Volkswagen, Canada hopes to compete with its American neighbor, which has been attracting multinationals for several months with financial incentives. . Especially since this country of natural resources has the minerals and metals needed to manufacture electric batteries. Not to mention clean energy. Ingredients that should allow it to increase the importance of its green industrial sector.
In two years, the country has recorded more than 18 billion dollars of investment in the electric battery sector, giving a boost to the country’s automotive industry, devastated since the departure in recent decades of many factories to Mexico , cheaper.
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(And with AFP)