Eurostar automobile plant

EUROSTAR automobile plant
legal form	Limited Liability Company & Compagnie Kommanditgesellschaft
founding	February 13, 1990
resolution	July 6, 2002
Seat	Austria : ; Graz - Liebenau , Styria
management	Gary W. Cash (Managing Director)
Number of employees	~ 1,900 (2001)
sales	10.8 billion ATS (1998)
Branch	Automobile manufacturing
Website	www.eurostar.at ( Memento from September 23, 2001 in the Internet Archive )

47.022119444444 15.480380555556Coordinates: 47 ° 1 '19.63 " N , 15 ° 28' 49.37" O The Eurostar Automobilwerk GesmbH & Co. KG is a former Austrian automakers from Graz - Liebenau . The company was originally founded as a joint venture between the Chrysler Corporation and Steyr-Daimler-Puch Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co. KG , in which both parties each held 50 percent. The factory site was located directly on Walter-P.-Chrysler-Platz between the state road B 73 and the approach to the south motorway A2 . The total area of the site extended to 221,180 m².

Company history

In March 1990, the Ed. Ast & Co. Baugesellschaft mbH and Universale Bau AG with the construction work. This took 19 months, so that the factory halls were completed in September 1991. Then work began on installing the factory equipment on which the Voyager and the slightly larger Grand Voyager were later mounted. Series production started after the opening ceremony on April 29, 1992. The then CEO Lee Iacocca gave the opening speech.

After a successful start, a second shift began on February 1, 1993. In March 1995 the 100,000th Chrysler Voyager rolled off the assembly line. A generation change then followed in September. New robots and greater automation should improve the processing quality of the vehicles. In the following year, the company also began series production of right-hand drive vehicles. As a result, the plant was no longer only intended for supplying the European market, as originally intended. From now on, the Voyager as well as the larger Grand Voyager were offered on the world market. In badge engineering , the models for some markets were manufactured under the name Chrysler Caravan and Chrysler Grand Caravan . The vehicles have been exported to almost every country, with Chrysler's concentration on the main hubs such as Australia, South Africa, Japan, China and Russia. Around 55,000 vehicles were assembled each year. In 1998 Daimler Chrysler AG decided, in view of this ambition, to buy up the plant and incorporate it into the group as one of its subsidiaries .

Before the turn of the millennium, construction work began on a plant expansion. The expansion lasted over a year and increased the factory building by a further 7,000 m². The expansion was necessary to enable the planned assembly of diesel variants of the new Chrysler PT Cruiser . This created around 600 new jobs. The company invested 58 million euros in the expansion. At the same time, the Voyager's assembly line was upgraded to accommodate the new generation of the model. Assembly of the new Voyager began in January 2000. Assembly of the PT Cruiser began in July 2001.

But the Austrian assembly of the PT Cruiser cost the group dearly, so the decision was made in December to end it as soon as possible. Thereupon discussions broke out to sell the work. Assembly in Graz was US $ 2,000 more expensive per vehicle than it would have been in Toluca, Mexico . So assembly was stopped after a year and around 50,000 units.

Magna International turned out to be the most promising negotiating partner for the sale . The purchase agreement was signed by representatives from both sides on February 29, 2002 at a general meeting resolution in Auburn Hills . However, due to the contractually agreed deadline to assemble the PT Cruiser for 12 months in the EUROSTAR plant in Graz, Magna's sales contract did not come into force until July 6, 2002, after the last vehicle had been assembled. Since then, the former factory halls of EUROSTAR belong to today's MAGNA STEYR Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co. KG

Model overview


	50/50 joint venture																																																																subsidiary																																									subsidiary
Type	1992									1993												1994												1995												1996												1997												1998												1999												2000												2001												2002
Type	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
People carrier	Chrysler Voyager GH ( LHD ) Chrysler Grand Voyager ES ( LHD )																																											Chrysler Caravan / Chrysler Voyager GS ( LHD / RHD ) Chrysler Grand Caravan / Chrysler Grand Voyager GH ( LHD / RHD )																																																														Chrysler Caravan Chrysler Voyager RG ( LHD / RHD ) Chrysler Grand Caravan Chrysler Grand Voyager GK ( RHD ) & GY ( LHD )
Compact class																																																																																			Chrysler PT Cruiser FY ( LHD ) & FZ ( RHD )
Compact class - Cabriolet																																																																																			Chrysler PT Cruiser Convertible JY ( LHD ) & JZ ( RHD )

The EUROSTAR automobile plant uses the factory code U within the vehicle identification number .

proof

AST Baugesellschaft mbH website: Production halls for Eurostar Automobilwerk GmbH & Co.KG in Graz ( Memento from May 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
http://www.eurostar.at/history/main.html ( Memento from February 6, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
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Web links

Former official website: www.eurostar.at ( Memento from September 23, 2001 in the Internet Archive )