PRAGUE - Czech car maker Skoda will invest more than 100 million euros (129 million dollars) into its Kvasiny plant for the launch of its new Roomster model next year, board chairman Detlef Wittig said Thursday.
The company, part of the Volkswagen group, intends to launch production of the vehicle early next year and the car will go on sale in the second half of 2006.
The expanded facility will create another 2,000 jobs at the plant in Kvasiny, east Bohemia, Wittig said. It currently employs more than 1,200 people.
The plant already manufactures Skoda's top-of-the-range Superb vehicle.
"The plant that we want to expand and at which we currently produce our most prestigious model, the Skoda Superb, enjoys long-term ratings as one of the best within the entire Volkswagen group," said Wittig.
Skoda spokesman Jaroslav Cerny added that the model would look "similar" to the Roomster concept car design unveiled in 2003 but "not the same".
He said it was too early to say how many units would be manufactured annually.
The Roomster will be built on the platform of its best-selling Fabia model. Skoda has received investment incentives in the form of tax relief amounting to 15 percent of the total investment.
Radomil Novak, chief executive of government investment agency CzechInvest said all the required land had been purchased.
The carmaker plans to present the Roomster model at the Geneva motor show in March 2006.
04/28/2005 14:32 GMT