Magna Steyr Builds Milestone Peugeot RCZ

VIENNA – Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik marks production of the 50,000^th Peugeot RCZ sports car this week with a ceremony at its Graz, Austria, plant.

The contract manufacturer launched RCZ output in fall 2009. It is one of four vehicles currently produced by Magna Steyr, which also builds the Mercedes G-Class, Mini Countryman and Paceman.

The company’s contract with PSA Peugeot Citroen runs until 2015 and calls for production of 83,000 cars, but it is in talks with the French auto maker about a follow-up order.

Magna Steyr will unveil a concept car at the Geneva auto show next month that could be ready for production in two years if PSA is interested, Hubert Hoedl, Magna Steyr vice president-sales and marketing, tells Austrian journalists during the ceremony.

The company has not published official production numbers for 2012, but Hoedl says output totaled some 118,000 Minis, 10,000 RCZ sports cars and more than 10,000 G-Class SUVs.

In addition, 379 Aston Martin Rapide models were built last year. Production of the car was phased out at Graz in May 2012 and transferred to Aston Martin’s Gaydon, U.K., plant.

In 2011, 130,343 vehicles were produced at the Austrian plant.

Magna Steyr is expected to continue G-Class production through 2019, but other aspects of its future are less clear.

Last year, it failed to land a contract to build a future Infiniti entry-level vehicle. A memorandum of understanding for the project was signed calling for production to start in 2014, but in October Nissan decided to build the vehicle at its Sunderland, U.K., plant instead.

In addition, BMW decided last fall it would use Mitsubishi’s former NedCar plant in Born, the Netherlands, for future Mini production, a move seen jeopardizing Magna Steyr’s chances of landing a new Mini contract for Graz.

But local daily Kleine Zeitung says the manufacturer is in talks with BMW about production of two models scheduled for 2016.

Guenther Apfalter, president of both Magna Europe and Magna Steyr, confirmed in a November interview the company was investigating the potential for contract car production at an Eastern European location.

“This does not mean relocating the current production from Graz, but rather that we will make a decision together with the customer in regards to where future models will be produced,” Apfalter told the Austrian daily Kurier, suggesting the next-generation version of a vehicle currently in production could be sourced from Eastern Europe.

Magna Steyr last year began negotiations to buy the Fabryka Samochodow Osobowych car plant in Warsaw, Poland, but Hungarian sources said the company also was considering building a greenfield facility in Hungary.

“Poland is still on the radar, (but) is currently on hold,” Apfalter told the newspaper.