Poland may have lost out in euro 500 million car plant bid

Toyota Motor and PSA Peugeot Citroen have decided to locate their new European plant in the city of Kolin in the Czech Republic, and not in Dabrowa Gornicza in Southern Poland, leading Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday. The euro 500 million plant will eventually produce 300,000 small cars a year and employ several thousand workers. Toyota officials have not yet confirmed the press report. "We're considering several locations and final decisions are to be taken by the end of the year," a company spokesman said. If the report proves to be accurate, the Toyota decision will come as a bitter disappointment in Poland, which in spring had been considered the most likely location for the car plant. Even though Japanese press reports are generally considered very reliable, Polish officials have not given up hope. "As long as the final decision has not been announced we'll strive to win this investment," said deputy Economy Minister Ewa Freyberg. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B4; Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 22) M.K.