Posted By Uma Rajagopal
Posted on October 9, 2024
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain has granted automaker Stellantis a 133 million euro ($146 million) subsidy for its potential battery-making plant near the northeastern city of Zaragoza, Industry Minister Jordi Hereu said on Tuesday.
The grant is part of a government aid programme to foster the electric vehicle (EV) and battery industry using European Union pandemic relief funds. Madrid hopes the aid will convince Stellantis to confirm its project, which would consolidate Spain as a major European car hub.
Stellantis, whose brands include Fiat and Peugeot, is still deciding whether to build the battery-making complex – or gigafactory – next to its car plant in Figuerelas.
It has said the project, in partnership with China’s CATL, would create around 3,000 jobs and require an investment of nearly 2.5 billion euros.
A Stellantis spokesperson told Reuters it welcomed the government’s decision, but added the project was still “subject to completion of all regulatory approvals” and it would make announcements “at the appropriate time.
The industry ministry said in a statement that, with the latest aid, Stellantis had received close to 300 million euros from the government.
The ministry separately said it was increasing a subsidy for another gigafactory in the eastern city of Sagunto to 152 million euros from a previous 98 million euros. The project belongs to Volkswagen’s battery-making subsidiary PowerCo.
($1 = 0.9111 euros)
(Reporting by David Latona and Joan Faus; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Mark Potter)