THE SHELL of the new body shop for SUVs has already been erected at the Bratislava-based plant of car-manufacturer Volkswagen Slovakia. The new body shop, worth €600 million, is the biggest investment in the history of the company and at the same time one of the biggest body shop construction projects in the automotive industry worldwide. It should provide jobs for around 550 people when completed, which is estimated for mid 2014, the TASR newswire reported on February 26, citing company spokesman Vladimír Machalík.

The new body shop will offer secondary-school students the chance to test their knowledge in practice, Miroslava Rácová of the Bratislava Self-Governing Region told the SITA newswire.

Bratislava Region and Volkswagen Bratislava are preparing a new centre of professional education aimed at helping graduates find jobs.

According to Volkswagen Slovakia board chairman Albrecht Reinold, the hall will now be equipped with up-to-date technologies, including around a thousand robots.

Construction on the 110,000 square metre body shop was launched in July 2012 and has so far involved 350 workers. Around another 500 people will be installing new technology. For example, diode lasers will be used for laser welding, which should save a considerable amount of energy compared to conventional laser welding, Machalík pointed out.