KIA MOTORS Slovakia, located in Teplička nad Váhom near Žilina, has launched full production of the second generation of its Cee’d model. Moreover, its plant has begun operating at full capacity, with three shifts a day, the TASR newswire reported.
Chief executive officer Eek-Hee Lee told a press conference on April 3 that the original Cee’d represented a milestone for Kia Motors Slovakia in terms of changing people’s view of the brand.
“We believe that the new model will help us to increase production this year to a total of 285,000 vehicles,” Lee said, as quoted by TASR, adding that Kia invested €200 million in production technologies last year.
The plant also hired more than 900 extra staff to make the new model.
“We plan to invest around €110 million this year, while production of the wagon version of Cee’d will be launched in the second half of the year,” Lee added.
Kia spokesperson Dušan Dvořák said that the Žilina plant has produced a total of 635,000 Cee’ds since production began in late 2006. More than 13,000 Cee’ds have been sold in Slovakia, 900 of them to the Slovak Police Corps.
