French technical plastics moulder Steep Plastique has revealed plans to construct a €50m automotive component production plant in northern Portugal over the next four years.

The first phase of the Portuguese project will see completion of a 7,000 square metre production hall at the Lanheses industrial zone of Viana do Castelo, north of Porto next year, according to local media reports.  

They quoted Steep group CEO Eric Delachambre as saying his firm will invest €10m in the first of four development stages due to be completed in June 2018. It will employ an initial 50-strong workforce.

When the Viana plant is fully constructed in 2021, it will cover 35,000 square metres and Steep Plastique, a tier one supplier based at Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost near Lyon, France, will eventually employ 250 there.

The new operation, set to become the port city¡¯s second largest plant, is Steep Plastique¡¯s latest expansion project outside France. The firm is currently growing production and warehouse capacity in a €5m investment at its moulding site at Nitra, western Slovakia and has other plants abroad in Turkey and Morocco.

Steep Plastique specialises in manufacturing large plastic mouldings for the automotive sector which include covers for the vehicle engine compartment and under body areas.

The firm is not the only French plastics auto parts moulder opting to grow in Portugal. Another supplier company, also from France, investing in the north of the Iberian country is Eurostyle Systems which is setting up an €18m injection moulding plant at Arcos de Valdevez, near Viana do Castelo.

Viana already has seven local plants serving the automotive industry with six new industrial projects -- not only for the automotive sector -- negotiating to establish operations there, city mayor Jos¨¦ Maria Costa reported last month.