South Korean car maker Kia Motors said on Sept. 16 that it would boost production and add 1,000 new jobs at its Slovak plant next year.
"We will launch a third shift in the first quarter of 2012," said Dusan Dvorak, spokesman for the Slovak unit.
"The plant will also start producing a new model next year," he added without specifying the car type.
The plant, which already employs 2,900 people, expects its production to exceed this year's planned 240,000 units due to high demand.
Last year, Kia assembled 229,500 cars at its plant near Zilina, northern Slovakia.
The Slovak plant making the Kia cee'd, Kia Sportage and Hyundai ix35 models exports 99% of its production, mostly to Russia, Great Britain and Germany.
As of October, it will switch production from Hyundai's ix35 to the Kia Venga that has so far been produced by a plant run by its sister firm Hyundai in the neighboring Czech Republic, about 40 miles from the Slovak factory.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
