General Motors to produce Astra II in Poland

Car manufacturer General Motors is to upgrade its Polish factory to produce the Astra II model, raising the plant's exports by about $200 million a year to $600 million, GM spokesman Przemysław Byszewski announced yesterday. The carmaker would invest an unspecified amount within the offset package organized as part of Lockheed Martin's $3.5 billion sale of fighter planes to the air force. "Exports of the Astra II alone will be about $200 million a year, so together with the Agila (already in production) total exports will be around $600 million," Byszewski said. Since 1996 GM, the world's largest automaker, has invested about $800 million in Poland, in ventures including the Opel factory in the Southern town of Gliwice. (Reuters; Parkiet, p. 7) J.K.