BRUSSELS, June 21 (Reuters) - Opel Belgium, a unit of U.S. automobile giant General Motors said on Friday it will invest some 500 million euros in its Antwerp plant in the next five years to prepare for the production of the new Astra model.
Opel Belgium spokesman Dirk Snauwaert said the plant will begin producing the new Astra car model from 2004.
He said 51.4 million euros had already been invested in new machinery.
The Belgian Opel plant produced some 300,000 cars last year, but Snauwaert said production will be slowed to some 260,000 cars to match lower market demand.