Volkswagen has dropped plans to build a plant in Turkey amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Daily Sabah reported.

“The background is that the coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on car markets and the situation is a different one from pre-corona,” VW spokesman Christoph Ludewig told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Volkswagen had plans to build a plant in Manisa, western Turkey.

The German company was in the final stages of talks with the Turkish government on the construction of a $ 1.1 billion facility, which would be the largest investment in the country's automotive industry in over two decades. The goal was to serve as the manufacturing center for Volkswagen in the Middle East and other nearby markets.