The robust health of Poland’s automotive industry has again been highlighted after it was announced that a company owned by Volkswagen had signed a EUR 1.7 billion deal to open a factory in Nysa.Set to create 900 jobs, the plant will be built for Ionway, a company jointly created by Belgium’s Umicore and the Volkswagen group’s PowerCo.

Producing cathodes for electric car batteries, the factory is set to open in 2026.Representing the largest ever investment in the Opole region, by the end of the decade the plant will produce 2.2 million cathodes per year.

Waldemar Buda, the Minister of Development & Technology, said: “This investment is the best proof that Poland has become one of the leading countries in terms of attracting the largest and, at the same time, the most innovative investments.“We are also pleased that it supports Poland’s sustainable economic and energy transformation towards zero emissions.

In a press release, Ionway justified the decision to build a factory in Nysa citing its strategic location, access to renewable energy, the skilled local workforce and the support of the Polish government – of the EUR 1.7 billion that is to be invested, EUR 350 million will be provided in the form of government cash grants.Mathias Miedreich, the CEO of Umicore, said: “The strategic location of the joint venture’s battery materials plant in Poland, right next to Umicore’s own battery materials plant, which is still unique in Europe, will further enable the transition to electric driving that is truly sustainable.”The latest news has spotlighted Poland’s growing importance in the EV battery sector.

Already home to Europe’s largest car battery factory, the LG Energy plant just outside Wrocław, other plants are currently under construction including one belonging to South Korea’s SK Nexilis and another to Mercedes.Described by Auto Dziennik magazine as “an emerging tiger of the automotive industry”, the future looks bright for country’s automotive segment with Mercedes sinking EUR 1.3 billion into a factory for electric delivery vehicles in Jawor, and Volkswagen investing EUR 800 million into their Crafter factory in Września.In Gliwice, meanwhile, EUR 300 million expansion plans for the Stellantis plant have created over 600 jobs.