This morning, the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, highlighted the "enormous potential"of the Catalan economy during the signing ceremony of the agreement between the car company Ebro-EV Motors and the Chinese manufacturer Chery, which makes the reindustrialisation of the Zona Franca plant in Barcelona a reality. "Investments like this one put us in the right direction," he stressed, and assured that the Catalan economy "is attractive: we have the stability and resilience that investments like this require". "The new Chery and Ebro plant is an example of how we are moving in this direction," he remarked.

Along the same lines, the President, who took part in the event accompanied by the Catalan Minister for Business and Labour, Roger Torrent, stated that "Catalonia awakens confidence as a land of opportunities, as a country in which to invest and carry out business projects with high added value, such as, for example, the whole area of electric mobility".He recalled that"a few years ago we saw work centres relocating and today we see how many industrial projects from all over the world, when they have to choose Europe, choose Catalonia".

The President has described Chery's arrival in Catalonia as"a very important step, to further revitalise the Zona Franca and for the important automotive ecosystem that we have in Catalonia". And he expressed his gratitude to Minister Torrent and his team for the "work done to reindustrialise Catalonia", as well as to the companies, governments and all the people who have made this agreement possible. In this regard, he addressed the workers and told them: "We asked you for trust, we built trust together and today I want to thank you for that because it has brought results".

The agreement signed between Ebro and Chery makes the reindustrialisation of the Zona Franca plant in Barcelona, owned by Ebro-EV Motors and now called Ebro Factory, a reality. Ebro's first vehicle, a state-of-the-art SUV, will start production in the fourth quarter of this year, following the start of production of Chery's electric Omoda 5. Total planned production by 2029 is approximately 150,000 vehicles.