Palmela, Portugal, Aug. 19, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's government and the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP) are willing to provide support of €30 million for the decarbonisation investments planned by Volkswagen Autoeuropa, the economy minister announced on Tuesday.
"The government and AICEP said that they were available to grant the investment project to be developed by Volkswagen in Portugal the maximum level of aid" allowed by European rules, which corresponds to “€30 million”, said the Minister for the Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, at the signing ceremony for the series of declarations of intent between the Volkswagen Group and the government to produce the new ID-EVERY1 electric vehicle in Portugal, at the Autoeuropa facilities in Palmela, Setúbal district.
According to the company, this figure is part of a total investment of more than €600 million in that industrial unit by the end of 2028, which had already been announced. A large part of this amount is earmarked for decarbonising processes, to reduce the impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 90% compared to 2021.
Also part of the €600 million “cake” is the production of the new car, the new painting unit and the new large press, which was launched today by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on a visit to the factory that preceded the signing of the agreement.
The Minister for the Economy described this investment by Autoeuropa as "strategic", to "accelerate the export potential of the national economy", whose increased weight in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the government considers essential for economic growth and the convergence of Portuguese incomes with those of the rest of Europe.
"Only economic growth makes it possible to increase people's incomes and sustain the welfare state," emphasised Castro Almeida.
Autoeuropa is the only automotive company in Portugal with a press area; the nearest other one is 1,200 kilometres away, in Barcelona.
The new XL press, which went into production today, replacing the one that had been in use for 30 years, corresponds to a total investment of €52.8 million.
Speaking to journalists, the head of the press area, Mak da Silva, who began working on this project in 2019, explained that this new, more technologically advanced equipment has made it possible to transform "people who used to carry parts" into "specialised operators" who handle robots, through training for this transition of roles which, he pointed out, has meant that the number of workers on that line has remained the same.
When questioned by journalists, the Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Volkswagen Autoeuropa, Thomas Engel Gunther, said it was still too early to know whether the production of the new ID.EVERY1 and the new T-ROC would make it possible to increase the number of jobs.
"I hope so, it depends on how the markets develop, it doesn't just depend on us, I think the focus is on keeping jobs," he said.
Volkswagen Autoeuropa was responsible for 90.5% of the light vehicles produced in Portugal in 2024, an increase of 7.2% compared to 2023, and had 4,842 workers last year.
MPE/ADB // ADB.
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