It is located directly to the south-east of Trnava, approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) from Bratislava and the frontier with Austria to the south-west.

Volume auto-production commenced at the end of May 2006, although the plant's official opening took place only on 19 October 2006 in a ceremony headed by PSA President Jean-Martin Folz and Slovak prime minister Robert Fico even though it was his predecessor and political rival, the former prime minister Mikuláš Dzurinda who had originally agreed with Peugeot the terms for the plant's construction in Slovakia.

On 8 December 2005 the manufacturer announced an additional investment of €357 million to increase the plant's annual capacity by 150,000 units in order to produce the forthcoming mini-mpv model known at that stage simply by the internal project designation "A58".

However, on 7 September 2006 it was announced that the expansion project had been "put on hold", since the group had no overall need for additional auto-production capacity in Europe.

The car went into volume production in the middle of 2008 and was officially presented to the press in July and to the public in September at the Paris Motor Show as the Citroën C3 Picasso, PSA's answer to the Renault Grand Modus and Opel/Vauxhall Meriva.

Between the launch of the Citroën C3 Picasso and 2012 the plant produced the C3 alongside the old Peugeot 207 with production reaching 248,405 in 2013, still some way short of the planned maximum capacity of 300,000 units annually.

The plant has a designed capacity to produce 300,000 cars annually, originally intended to employ 3,000 people organised into three shifts, which according to the manufacturer equates to an hourly output of 55 vehicles.

PSA president Jean-Martin Folz played down the question of wage differentials, however, pointing out that Slovakian auto-industry wage levels were likely to rise rapidly, since the area was quickly becoming a European centre of expertise and excellence for auto-makers, with a Volkswagen plant at Bratislava since 1991 and a Kia plant at Žilina, as well as other new auto-plants recently built across the frontier in the Czech Republic by international brands including Hyundai, Škoda and, in partnership with Toyota, by PSA themselves.