Volkswagen ramps up production at Pune plant

German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen added third shift to its Pune manufacturing facility, anticipating higher demand for soon-to-be-launched Ameo compact sedan and to ramp up exports. Volkswagen started third shift this month and already added approximately 800 new employees for the new shift, the company said in a press release. 

Volkswagen currently manufactures the Polo hatchback and the Vento sedan at its manufacturing facility in Chakan, Pune. The plant also produces Skoda Rapid for the Indian market. Additionally, Volkswagen also assembles the 1.5-litre TDI engine at this plant. The Ameo compact sedan unveiled at the Auto Expo 2016 will be the key product rolling out of the plant in the coming months. The company has invested approximately 800 million Euros in the plant so far. The Pune plant had rolled out the first car in March 2009. As of 2015, the plant produced 1,23,456 cars.

"In 2016, we are expecting growth in our domestic as well as export volumes. With the new Ameo, a car that has been specially developed for India, we are expecting a higher demand from the domestic Indian market while we look at supplying more cars to our export markets too. In all, we expect to increase our production by around 15% this year as compared to the last one," Andreas Lauermann, president and MD of Volkswagen India, said in the statement. 

Last week, Renault-Nissan alliance plant in Chennai also started working 24 hours a day due to the overwhelming demand for the Kwid hatchback. Nissan's sub brand, Datsun, is launching the redi-Go hatchback soon. The addition of the third shift at the plant is also carried out anticipating an increase in demand for the redi-Go.