German truck manufacturer MAN Nutzfahrzeuge started building a new assembly plant in Krakow, Poland on 20th June 2006. The total investment in the plant is expected to be €90-100m. From mid-2007 mainly heavy TGA WorldWide trucks and MAN TGAs will be built there. Krakow will be the company’s third Polish plant in its interlinked production set-up. At present more than 2,600 people are employed at its plants in Poznan and Starachowice.

MAN Nutzfahrzeuge has set itself the target of achieving sales of 100,000 trucks per year by 2010. In the medium term 650 people will be employed in at the new plant in Poznan to produce 15,000 vehicles a year. The trucks are intended for the growth markets in Eastern Europe, Russia, South Africa and the Middle East. Components such as axles, cabs and engines will be supplied from the MAN plants in Germany and Austria.

Meanwhile, US automotive manufacturer General Motors has announced it is in negotiations with Ukrainian manufacturer UrkAvto, to establish a joint manufacturing venture near Warsaw, Poland that would produce Chevrolet brand vehicles. Initially it would produce 25,000 vehicles a year but capacity could rise to 300,000 a year.

The work council boss of GM Europe, Klaus Franz, says this decision could lead to the reduction of capacities in Western Europe. At present the Corsa is built by the GM subsidiary OPEL in Zaragoza, Spain. The joint venture could be the first step in shifting Corsa production capacities from west to Eastern Europe.