Volkswagen India is on a roll. First they launch the Jett and Passat and than after judging the sentiments of us Indians, they again launch the iconic Beetle and Touareg SUV. Now that they have a significant portfolio in their kitty, they have already promised India with their Polo and Up!.
Now Volkswagen going a step further in their conquest of India dream, now plans to double the number of workers at its new factory in India to 2,500 by the end of next year. Great News for us. As now we know Volkswagen is here and here to stay. Volkswagen, which also is Europe’s biggest car maker has even more grander plans like that of taking over Suzuki Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Corporation. This comes after its boosted purchase of Porsche brand.
The plant Volkswagen is talking about is located in Chakan near Pune, which already employs about 1,200 people at the cost of $860 million. This is plant where the Skoda Fabia is being produced since May. The production of Volkswagen Polo also will commence in this week in the same plant. Volkswagen predicts that the Indian automotive market will grow at the rate of 2.2 million cars and SUVs by 2014 from 1.4 million this year.
The Polo will compete head on with the models built by Maruti Suzuki India, the maker of half the cars sold in the nation, as well as models from Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan. VW plans to expand its Indian distribution network to 120 dealers by 2012 from 14 last year so that VW can target selling of more than 100,000 cars, than the 16,000 vehicles it sold this year through January-October.
Volkswagen is introducing a hatchback Polo first at the Chakan plant and will add a sedan version in mid-2010. Hatchbacks account for more than 70 percent of all cars delivered in India. Honda, Japan’s second-largest automaker, started selling the Jazz hatchback in India in June.
The German company is also considering making the Up! city car at Chakan though a final decision still has not been made. Volkswagen also assembles Jettas, Passats and Audi A4 and A6 models at a Skoda factory in Aurangabad in western India, where it employs 1,000 people.
posted by admin @ Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 0 Comments link to this post
