PM hails start of production of 100% electric car in ‘decisive’ sector
The new eCanter will have only two production centres at world level, the Tramagal plant and Kawasaki, in Japan. The Tramagal plant currently employs 530 workers from seven different nations.
Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, on Monday presided over the start of production of the new eCanter – a 100% electric vehicle from Mitsubishi Fuso – at a plant in Tramagal, Abrantes, addressing a sector that he said was “decisive” for the goal of achieving carbon neutrality in 2050.
“I want to congratulate Fuso Canter for these two very important moments: on the one hand the production of 250,000 vehicles and, on the other hand, to mark this moment with the production of a new vehicle, one hundred percent electric, and in which the Tramagal factory will be the production site for the entire Europe of the one hundred percent electric eCanter,” said Costa, stressing the need to respond to the challenges of climate change and energy transition.
The prime minister recalled that 70% of carbon emissions result from transport, and that the “automotive industry sector is of the utmost importance and is decisive” to transforming the economy so that, as happens now in Tramagal, Santarém district, the country adapts “to the new challenges” that face it.
“To achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 it is not enough to wait for time to pass, we must take the decisions today and do today what is necessary for our societies to be carbon neutral in 2050,” said Costa, underscoring that the start of production at Tramagal is given “a step of the utmost importance for that goal.”
The new eCanter will have only two production centres at world level, the Tramagal plant and Kawasaki, in Japan, and the governor was present at the time when the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck Europe (MFTE) plant marked the production target of 250,000 Canter vehicles, a model manufactured since 1980 at that plant, a day that also marked the start of production of the new generation Fuso eCanter.
“These are two historic moments, very important, and that show the full potential of this factory”, said António Costa, highlighting the “long tradition of collaboration in the industrial area between Portugal and Germany and the Japanese automobile industry”.
The event programme included a visit to the factory and to the eCanter production unit, and included speeches by Karl Deppen, CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC), Arne Barden, CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck Europe (MFTE), Prime Minister António Costa, and the Secretary of State for the Economy, Pedro Cilínio.
The Tramagal plant currently employs 530 workers from seven different nations, making it the largest employer in the region.
From Portugal, the vehicles produced travel to 32 European countries, as well as to Morocco, making Mitsubishi Fuso Truck Europe the third largest manufacturer of motor vehicles at national level.
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck Europe (MFTE) today employs 530 workers and closed the year 2022 with a production that exceeded 10,000 units of the Canter and eCanter models, and a turnover of 270 million euros.
