![Peugeot 207 3-Türer front](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Peugeot_207_3-T%C3%BCrer_front.JPG)
The Stellantis Trnava Plant is a major car plant in
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
and the most recently established
Stellantis
Stellantis N.V. is a multinational automotive manufacturing corporation formed in 2021 on the basis of a 50–50 cross-border merger between the Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group. The comp ...
plant in Europe. It is located directly to the south-east of
Trnava
Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' (Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' (Trna ...
, approximately from
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
and the frontier with
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
to the south-west.
History
The 193
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...
site was chosen in January 2003 and the first stone was laid five months later, on 17 June.
Volume auto-production commenced at the end of May 2006, although the plant's official opening took place only on 19 October 2006 in a ceremony headed by PSA President
Jean-Martin Folz
Jean-Martin Folz (born 11 January 1947) is a French businessman. He was the chairman and CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën
The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA P ...
and Slovak prime minister
Robert Fico
Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018 (when he resigned). He has been the first leader of the Direction – Social Democracy (SMER-SD) p ...
even though it was his predecessor and political rival, the former prime minister
Mikuláš Dzurinda
Mikuláš Dzurinda (; born 4 February 1956) is a Slovak politician who was the prime minister of Slovakia from 30 October 1998 to 4 July 2006. He is the founder and leader of the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK) and then the Slovak Democratic a ...
who had originally agreed with Peugeot the terms for the plant's construction in Slovakia. Of the €700 million invested, €105 million came in the form of government aid.
On 8 December 2005 the manufacturer announced an additional investment of €357 million to increase the plant's annual capacity by 150,000 units in order to produce the forthcoming mini-mpv model known at that stage simply by the internal project designation "A58". However, on 7 September 2006 it was announced that the expansion project had been "put on hold", since the group had no overall need for additional auto-production capacity in Europe. Nevertheless, within the originally specified capacity, plans for Trnava to produce the "A58" remained in place. The car went into volume production in the middle of 2008 and was officially presented to the press in July and to the public in September at the
Paris Motor Show
The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...
as the
Citroën C3 Picasso
The Citroën C3 Picasso is a car produced by the French motor company Citroën from 2008–2017. It has a five-door mini MPV design and was first unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show as a concept car named "Drooneel". The Picasso is the mini ...
, PSA's answer to the
Renault Grand Modus and
Opel/Vauxhall Meriva. French C3 Picasso sales started in February 2009
and extended to other European markets during the next few months. The Trnava factory was and in 2012 remains the only plant producing this model.
Between the launch of the Citroën C3 Picasso and 2012 the plant produced the C3 alongside the old
Peugeot 207
The Peugeot 207 is a supermini car ( B) that was designed and produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 2006 to 2014. It was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 2006, and entered production in April 2006, as the successor to the Peugeot 2 ...
with production reaching 248,405 in 2013, still some way short of the planned maximum capacity of 300,000 units annually. The manufacturer blamed lack of consumer demand for small cars in key western European markets, and ominously, production was suspended for six days in May 2009 and six more days in June 2009. However, PSA insisted that they would honour existing undertakings not to suspend any of the plant's 3,000 employees during 2010/11.
In November 2011, a few months more than five years after the first cars were produced at the Trnava plant, it was time to celebrate production of the plant's 1,000,000th car. It was also in November 2011 that a third model was added to the plant's line-up, being the two door version of the
Peugeot 208
The Peugeot 208 is a supermini car (B-segment in Europe) produced by the French automaker Peugeot. Unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2012 and positioned below bigger 308 and above smaller 108. The 208 replaced the 207 in 2012, and the ca ...
. Production of this model is now shared with two major plants in France, at
Poissy
Poissy () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Pisciacais'' in French.
Poissy is one of ...
and
Mulhouse
Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...
, but it did not go unremarked that the plant in Slovakia started production of this important new model some months before the French plants. The investment to production of Peugeot 208 was more than 120 million € in the year 2011.
According to the company data
Stellantis Trnava after overcoming crises in 2009 was steadily increasing production: 2013 by 15.5%, 2014 by 2.7%, 2015 by 19% as follows:
In the 2013 the production of Peugeot 207 was stopped and the majority (2013:184,754 ; 2014:206,562) of cars produced were Peugeot 208.
In March 2015 Slovak media revealed that in Trnava will be produced a new Citroën model with a code name B618, which will be a small SUV in a segment B similar to model C3-XR. French headquarter confirmed this news in April 2015
with total investment of 300 mil. €. On March 15, 2016 was the model revealed in the factory.
The car turned out to be the
Citroën C3
The Citroën C3 is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by Citroën since April 2002. It replaced the Citroën Saxo in the model line up, and is currently in its third generation. The third generation model made its appearance in June 2016, and ...
III.
Since 2019, the plant is the main manufacturer of the
Peugeot 208 II. It is also the only manufacturer of the electric version of this model, the Peugeot e-208.
Peugeot
*
Peugeot 207
The Peugeot 207 is a supermini car ( B) that was designed and produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 2006 to 2014. It was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 2006, and entered production in April 2006, as the successor to the Peugeot 2 ...
(from June 2006 to 2012, 792,149 units assembled)
*
Peugeot 208 I (from 2012 to September 2019, 1,275,058 units)
*
Peugeot 208 II (since July 2019, 174,950 units as of late 2020)
*
Peugeot e-208
The Peugeot 208 is a supermini car (B-segment in Europe) produced by the French automaker Peugeot. Unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2012 and positioned below bigger 308 and above smaller 108. The 208 replaced the 207 in 2012, and the ...
(since November 2019, 40,597 units as of late 2020)
Citroën
*
Citroën C3 Picasso
The Citroën C3 Picasso is a car produced by the French motor company Citroën from 2008–2017. It has a five-door mini MPV design and was first unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show as a concept car named "Drooneel". The Picasso is the mini ...
(from March 2009 to June 2017, 501,956 units as of late 2020)
*
Citroën C3 III (since September 2016, 931,316 units as of late 2020)
Scale and purpose
The plant has a designed capacity to produce 300,000 cars annually, originally intended to employ 3,000 people organised into three shifts, which according to the manufacturer equates to an hourly output of 55 vehicles. The Trnava plant was built to produce the company's "Platform 1" cars, which are small cars. The first car to be produced in volume was the
Peugeot 207
The Peugeot 207 is a supermini car ( B) that was designed and produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 2006 to 2014. It was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 2006, and entered production in April 2006, as the successor to the Peugeot 2 ...
produced initially in October 2006 at a daily rate of 450, with an increase to 800 scheduled in time for Q2, 2007. With the 2013 production the factory was close to its planned capacity with daily production of 1200 cars and 3500 employees. In 2014 with 3500 employees and 255,176 cars was a capacity used to 85% including 30 days when it was not producing. General director of the plant Rémi Girardon confirmed in March 2015 a plan to produce third car model (Citroën) with a goal of 360.000 cars in 2017 and therefore from May 2015 hourly output will be increased to 57 to 60 vehicles with new employees. A fourth (weekend) shift will be introduced in 2016 and subsequently the number of employees will increase to 4200 by 2018.
Departments
The plant comprises six principal departments, devoted respectively to
Metal forming / presses,
Welding based body assembly, painting, final assembly, logistics and quality.
Wage levels
In 2006, shortly after the plant opened, there was much discussion in France of relative wage levels, with reports that the minimum wage at the Trnava factory was €183 per month and the average salary €450, although the salary of an assembly line worker would be only €350. Reference was also made to wages at the nearby
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
plant being 85% lower than those of that company's German employees. PSA president Jean-Martin Folz played down the question of wage differentials, however, pointing out that Slovakian auto-industry wage levels were likely to rise rapidly, since the area was quickly becoming a European centre of expertise and excellence for auto-makers, with a
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
plant at
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
since 1991 and a
Kia
Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...
plant at
Žilina
Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Sl ...
, as well as other new auto-plants recently built across the frontier in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
by international brands including
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups:
* Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested
** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company
** Hyundai ...
,
Škoda
Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to:
Czech brands and enterprises
* Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav
** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respons ...
and, in
partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...
with
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
, by PSA themselves.
In the year 2015 the average monthly wage was €1.331 and wages below €850 will be specially compensated with 13th salary.
References
This article incorporates information from the
equivalent entry in the French Wikipedia. Updated data about production are from the factory site http://www.psa-slovakia.sk/ (in Slovak only).
{{Automotive industry in Slovakia
2003 establishments in Slovakia
Motor vehicle assembly plants in Slovakia
Trnava
Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' (Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' (Trna ...