Volkswagen plant in Bratislava

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The Volkswagen plant in Bratislava in the Devínska Nová Ves district of the Slovak capital Bratislava belongs to Volkswagen Slovakia . The plant, which has been part of Volkswagen AG since 1991 , was founded in 1971 as Bratislavské automobilové závody np ( BAZ for short , Automobilwerke Bratislava) for the production of Škoda vehicles by the Czechoslovak government as a state-owned company with completely new production facilities being gradually built.

description

The Bratislava plant on the Slovakian- Austrian border on the March , which flows into the Danube a few kilometers further south , has an area of ​​1,780,058 m². Around 12,300 employees (1998: 7,500 employees) produce Audi , Porsche , Seat , Škoda and Volkswagen vehicles there . In 2016 the bodies for the Bentley Bentayga were built in Bratislava and delivered to Crewe in the United Kingdom . In the same year, the production facilities for the Bentley were dismantled and rebuilt at the Volkswagen factory in Zwickau . A special feature is the Bratislava cable car , specially developed for the location , which connects the plant with a 2.8-kilometer test track. The plant has its own connection to the Devínska Nová Ves – Skalica na Slovensku railway line .

history

Advance development: Tatra Bratislava and Bratislavské automobilové závody (BAZ)

BAZ (Bratislavské automobilové závody) logo

The work goes back to a state-owned mechanical engineering company (Mechanizačný a regeneračný podnik). From 1960 it became a location of the automobile and truck manufacturer Tatra . An in-house development and design department worked on its own drafts based on existing Tatra car models.

In the late 1960s, the government decided to build its own plant for the production of passenger vehicles from the site on the March . The aim was to industrialize the less developed Slovak part of Czechoslovakia. For this purpose, numerous new workshops were built and machines were acquired in non-socialist countries. Ultimately, on July 1, 1971, Bratislavské automobilové závody, národný podnik (BAZ for short, Bratislava Automobile Works, state company) was founded. The original plan was to build the new plant for the modernly designed mid-range sedan of the Škoda 720 series (1250, 1500) in large quantities for export ( external funding ), which was no longer possible due to continued difficulties in the construction of machining centers. After the failure of the project, there were thoughts about building the Comecon car in Bratislava. In the meantime there were ambitions on the Slovak side to build vehicles under license. After years of decision-making difficulties, automobile production with the Škoda Garde began on April 30, 1982 , and sedans of the Škoda 742 series (105, 120 and more) were to follow. According to the original agreement from 1980, around 100,000 coupes should be produced annually. These goals were far from being achieved: the Bratislava plant only managed to produce a fraction of 63 vehicles between the start of production and August 1982.

Independent of the main development in the Czech Republic, numerous vehicles based on current Škoda models (especially the 742 series) were developed at BAZ, but they never went into series production. In 1987, the inefficient construction of cars was stopped because the vehicles produced always had quality problems and the production targets were not even close to being achieved despite the latest machinery. From then on, only the simply constructed, off-road truck Praga V3S was produced until 1990. At the same time, the production for axles of the new Škoda Favorit was adjusted, but there were repeated bottlenecks in delivery to the main AZNP Mladá Boleslav plant (name of the manufacturer of Škoda vehicles). BAZ was never a subsidiary of AZNP Mladá Boleslav (Škoda) and was exclusively subordinate to the Automobile Combine of the Ministry of Mechanical Engineering.

As part of the privatization of state-owned companies, BAZ, now as a stock corporation (as), gradually became a joint venture Volkswagen Bratislava, spol. sro with the Czechoslovak government to form Volkswagen AG, which was founded on March 12, 1991. In July 1998, around 7500 people were employed at the Bratislava Devínska Nová Ves plant. In December, the plant was incorporated into the newly founded Volkswagen Slovakia, as as part of the Volkswagen Bratislava company .

  • Prototypes from Tatra Bratislava and BAZ

  • Tatra 603 MB (1961) with front engine / drive based on the Tatra 603 as a near-series development and competitor to the Škoda 1203 .

  • Tatra 603 X (1966) as a further development of the Tatra 603.

  • Prototype BAZ MNA 900 (1988) and others in collaboration with Moskvich as the successor to the outdated Škoda / TAZ 1203/1500 .

  • BAZ Furgonet (1982–1983) as a panel van with rear engine as the basis of the Škoda 742 series .

  • BAZ Locusta with front engine based on the Škoda Rapid .

Takeover by Volkswagen

Production began on February 14, 1992. The Volkswagen Passat B3 was the first VW model to be manufactured in Bratislava , which was also available as a station wagon Variant . The third and fourth generation of the Volkswagen Golf was produced here, as was the Golf syncro. In the meantime, the Volkswagen Polo IV had also been produced.

Development in the first seven years
production 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
vehicles 1 2175 2952 6043 19,688 30,147 40,882 125.281
transmission - - - 44,000 186,400 259,000 283.161 328,000
Components - - - - 1,767,000 5,804,000 6,246,667 7,200,000

The Volkswagen Touareg , Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne models followed in 2002 . For the latter, only the body parts were produced in Bratislava until 2017 that were provided with the axles and engines from Zuffenhausen or Győr by Porsche Leipzig GmbH . The second generations of these models were also manufactured in Bratislava.

Another brand followed in January 2003 with the Seat Ibiza . But it was only produced in its 3rd generation. In March 2008, VW then established the Škoda Octavia II in its current generation, which was manufactured here in all of its body shapes (notchback, combi, RS and Scout). Production of the Octavia ended in May 2010 to make way for the production of the New Small Family model series, announced since 2009 , which has been manufactured in the Bratislava plant since 2011. This includes the VW up! , Škoda Citigo and Seat Mii . The total capacity for vehicle production was increased to 400,000 units per year. At the same time, 1,500 additional jobs were created in Bratislava.

In 2012, only the mini cars and the SUV were manufactured in Bratislava.

Production of the Audi Q7 (II) started in mid-July 2015.

Sightseeing opportunities

The plant can be viewed via a guided tour through a visitor center. As part of the tour, visitors can also drive on the 2.4-kilometer off-road course.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ New Cayenne comes from Bratislava. In: mz-web.de, August 31, 2017 (accessed November 18, 2018)
  2. ↑ Volkswagen Slovakia Factory In: bratislava-motor-city.com
  3. ↑ Televizní klub mladých , 1981 (Slovak: TV club of youth )
  4. ↑ Česká televize: Zašlapané projekty: Zapomeňte na škodovku (2009, Czech: Czech television - Crushed projects: Forget the Škoda)
  5. ↑ Auto-moto-review: Škoda Rapid - ako spĺňa požiadavky? (1986, Slovak: Škoda Rapid - does it meet requirements?)
  6. ↑ Televízne noviny , November 15, 1988 (Slovak, news)
  7. ↑ Marián Šuman-Hreblay: Encyklopedie automobilů Computer Press., 2007
  8. ↑ Lubos Vagač: The car industry in the Slovak Republic . In: South-East Europe Review for Labor and Social Affairs . tape 2 , 2000, pp. 143-172 , JSTOR : 43292111 .
  9. ↑ Proof of this number: From the Beetle to the global corporation . In: Manfred Grieger, Ulrike Gutzmann (Hrsg.): Historische Notate . tape 17 , 2015.
  10. ↑ Slovakia: In Bratislava on 7.5. the last Škoda Octavia from the tape ( memento of the original from April 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Austrian Chamber of Commerce, May 17, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / portal.wko.at
  11. ^ History of the Volkswagen Slovakia company

Web links

Coordinates: 48 ° 13 ′ 57.6 ″  N , 16 ° 59 ′ 22.4 ″  E