Lublin set to keep vital production line
By : Magdalena Wierzchowska
After a week of turmoil for Daewoo Motor Polska's (DMP) Lublin-based van factory, Daewoo representatives confirmed that its new LD-100 van will be manufactured in Lublin.
"DMP Vice-president Wieslaw Puch reassured us today that the LD-100 will be produced in the Lublin factory," said Beata Stopyra, DMP's press spokesman. "There's no possibility that the car will be produced outside the factory."
This statement followed earlier news that Daewoo had sold production rights for the LD-100 to Germany's Volkswagen, meaning that the model would not be built in Lublin. Negotiations with Volkswagen have been underway since Korean Daewoo Motor, the owner of 89.9% of the Lublin plant, found itself in serious trouble and announced its bankruptcy last November. Selling off the rights to the LD-100 would have been a disaster for the Lublin factory as production of the new van is considered its greatest asset. "If the LD-100 had been taken from us, there wouldn't be any future for us," Stopyra said.
Daewoo has already invested $116 million in production lines for the LD-100 model in Lublin, but a further $50 million is needed, she said. Originally production was scheduled to begin in 2000, but following the announcement of the parent company's bankruptcy, the Lublin factory's future was left up in the air. Last year, in an attempt to save the factory and its employees in a region wracked with unemployment, Deputy Economy Minister Edward Nowak promised a government guarantee of $130 million to finish preparations for the LD-100's production.
The outcome of negotiations with Volkswagen is to be announced shortly. "The contract is supposed to be signed on Feb. 20," Stopyra said. By then, the governments of Poland, Korea, Germany and the U.K. as well as the necessary European Union committees will have signed it, Stopyra said. "Before Feb. 20, no further details can be announced," she added.
