£2m CAR FACTORY PLANNED

Press, Volume C, Issue 29444, 21 February 1961, Page 16

£2m CAR FACTORY PLANNED

Gty Selected As Probable Site

A £2 million plant to manufacture four-to-five seater saloon cars specially designed for New Zealand requirements is planned by a Czech company, it is reported, and Christchurch has been chosen as the probable site for the new industry. The New Zealand Government has been approached, arn' negotiations are continuing for the establishment of a factory which would turn out about 10 per cent of the ears at present imported to New Zealand and which would have a New Zealand content of about 70 per cent.

In general terms, the proposal is in line with similar schemes Czechoslovakia has instituted in several parts of the world, including Ireland.

It is planned that the company should also provide plant and equipment, including a hydraulic press and the necessary dies for motor body production; and apart from the production of complete vehicles should be able to produce motor bodies under contract for other manufacturers who at present import c.k.d. cars to New Zealand. A staff ot about 200 will be employed on' the production and assembly work if the factory comes to Christchurch on the conclusion of negotiations with the Government. The Motokov Company, of Prague, which manufactures the Skoda car, exports of which have been made to New Zealand for several years, is the principal company in the negotiations. However, the proposal is that the car manufactured in New Zealand should be identified as a New Zealand-manufac-tured car, much as the General Motors-Holden car in Australia has been recognised as an Australian product. It has been suggested tentatively that the New Zealand car should be named the “Silver Fern.” A production estimate has

been made, and it is that the factory could produce 10 per cent, of the cars now imported by New Zealand. A preliminary survey has also been made with a view to exporting any future surplus, particularly to South-east Asia.

A number of prominent Christchurch men have been approached for their views on the scheme and also with a view to the selection of directors.

The finance for the project will be on the “pay as you produce" scheme, with the fully-equipped factory being provided from Czechoslovakia and New Zealand supplying the plant site and the working capital. All the profits from operations would remain in New Zealand, and repayment of the initial factory costs would be made over a specified period of years. Internal finance required for working capital presented no problems and had already been virtually arranged, said a spokesman for the proposed New Zealand company which will be formed to develop the project when he visited Christchurch yesterday.