VOLKSWAGEN CONTENT WITH ACHIEVEMENTS OF SARAJEVO-BASED FACTORY

SARAJEVO, Nov 30 (Hina) - The German Volkswagen vehicle factory in Sarajevo expects a monthly sale of between 1,500 to 2,000 vehicles in 1999, the company's director, Klaus Dieter Steinbach, told Monday's issue of the Sarajevo daily "Oslobodjenje". Steinbach announced that the company would begin producing limousines of the 'Octavia' type next spring. Experts should by then create conditions for building in ABS systems and air conditioning systems in vehicles. This is all an introduction to a possible renewal of the practice of assembling vehicles as was the case in Sarajevo before the war. Technically speaking, Octavia is the same as a Golf. If its assembling should begin in Sarajevo, it would induce a switch to Volkswagen's technology and would spur us to begin thinking about starting to assemble VW vehicles, Steinbach noted. He added that the success of the entire project depended on the opening of Croatia's and Turkey's markets, which should be solved by the authorities of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The issue primarily is to decrease the cost of vehicles assembled in Sarajevo so they would be in direct competition with vehicles from the Czech Republic. (hina) lml