BUDAPEST, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Slovakia and Poland have said they are shortlisted by South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Co for a new 1.1 billion euro ($1.28 billion) European plant to produce up to 300,000 units a year.
The two central European states beat off rival locations in Hungary and the Czech Republic. Hyundai has said it would make a final decision on where to build the new plant in March.
Hyundai is the latest of several international manufacturers to shift car production to central Europe, attracted by European Union enlargement and relatively cheap, semi-skilled labour.
This shift has created thousands of jobs in spin-off firms from tyres to spare parts.
The EU enlargement in May brings the prospect of income growth and political stability in the region, as well as a foothold in a single market of 450 million consumers.
Following are highlights of central Europe's booming car making industry:
-- Japan's Honda Motor Co Ltd and Britain's MG Rover are also reported to be considering plants in central Europe.
HUNGARY:
-- Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp is to boost output at its Esztergom plant to 200,000 units by 2005, investing 60 billion forints ($265 million) this year and next.
-- Suzuki and Italy's FIAT are to make a jointly developed sports utility vehicle from 2005, aiming to turn out 60,000 units a year from the Suzuki plant.
-- Volkswagen's luxury Audi unit is investing over 250 million euros this year at its Gyor plant, which makes engines and the Audi TT model.
CZECH REPUBLIC:
-- PSA Peugeot Citroen and Toyota Motor Corp are to spend 1.5 billion euros on new plant at Kolin to make 300,000 small compact cars a year.
-- VW owns the Skoda brand and dominates Czech and Slovak markets. Car sales make up 21 percent of total Czech exports.
SLOVAKIA:
-- Peugeot to build a 700 million euro, 300,000 car-per-year factory in Trnava.
-- Car sales make up over 25 percent of total exports.
SLOVENIA:
-- Revoz, Slovenia's only car maker, turning out the Clio model for majority owner Renault , was the country's biggest exporter for the 10th year running in 2002. It accounted for eight percent of the total. The government says Renault plans to start making a new model by late 2006 and may expand production in the region, with Revoz a key candidate for investment worth up to 370 million euros.
POLAND:
-- Fiat , Poland's biggest carmaker, expects to raise production of mainly compact models, inluding the Panda, by around 30 percent this year from 160,000 units in 2002.
-- GM's Opel invested $700 million in 1994-1998 in a plant at Gliwice in southern Poland. The company recently upped production of its Astra2 model, and total annual output is seen rising to 100,000-110,000 units in 2004 from 80,000 this year.
-- Attempts by MG Rover to take over the ailing Daewoo-FSO and buy low-cost plant have so far been blocked by tough talks with Daewoo-FSO's creditors. Daewoo-FSO, once a jewel in the South Korean group's global empire, was left out in the cold when GM took control last year of the bankrupt parent's main Asian operations. Rover said last year it was keen to make two Daewoo models and five of its own cars at the Warsaw plant, with total annual capacity of up to 200,000 units.
ROMANIA:
-- The state has a joint venture with South Korea's Daewoo Motor Co , with capacity for 100,000 cars and 200,000 engines a year.
-- Renault, which owns local car maker Dacia , has pledged to launch a new model, the X90 low-cost family saloon, next year, with initial production in Romania, though this will likely move to Russia in 2005.