CATL, Leapmotor or MG: Aragon and Spain want to be magnets for Chinese investment

The governments of Aragon and Spain open the doors to investment from China with the CATL battery factory as one of their driving projects. Both President  Jorge Azcón and the Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, have expressed their satisfaction this Friday at the interest of companies from the Asian giant, the same day of the launch of the future gigafactory at the Stellantis plant and one day after learning of Leapmotor ‘s interest in manufacturing its electric cars in Figueruelas. With the projects more or less mature, the message is clear, as Hereu has stressed about this last automobile multinational: ” we value it very positively .”

For the minister, “ it is normal ” that the battery factory could serve as a spur for the arrival of new investments from the Asian market. “ Aragon has the conditions , soil, sun, wind, great assets for competitiveness. This is a great engine that will attract other projects,” he commented.

In the specific case of China, Hereu has expressed his “ optimism ” regarding the possibility of the arrival of new industries, since Spain acts as a “gateway to Europe” and also acts as a bridge with Latin America. In his words, the peninsula is viewed “with great interest.” “ I am open to investment, as long as it generates industrial ecosystems and reinforces them,” he insisted.

For his part, Azcón has acknowledged that work is being done to carry out a trade route through China, with special emphasis on the automobile and energy sectors, to establish relations , commercial “ exchanges ” and dialogue. “Administrations have to be prudent and let work be done so that we can turn investments into reality. The gigafactory has been a project that has been worked on discreetly and has turned out well, therefore, we are not going to change the way of doing it,” he added.

Caution at the DGA

The president is not in any case celebrating. Without deviating from the path of prudence , he already acknowledged on Thursday in Huesca his interest in maintaining “ close ” relations with the Chinese embassy given its weight in economic decisions. And as he had already done in the capital of Alto Aragon, Azcón has again referred to the low price of energy as one of the factors that tip the balance in comparison with other territories.

For the moment, in addition to the aforementioned CATL and Leapmotor, the latter still on paper, the Chinese electric car company MG is another one that has been strongly mentioned in recent months. The Chinese ambassador himself, Yao Jing, expressed his interest in Zaragoza “and that of other brands” in deploying one of their factories in the city due to the “ attractiveness ” of the business climate in the area. At that time, the gigafactory, which would allow transport costs to be reduced due to its proximity, was not yet a reality.