Volkswagen production up 17% to record 1,45,145 units in 2016

Led by its popular car Vento, which contributed half the volume, Volkswagen India on Monday said its production from the Pune plant touched a record 1,45,145 units in 2016.

With this, so far the German company had produced 7,20,000 units from the Pune plant since 2009. The incremental production in 2016 stood at 17 per cent.

Earlier in December, the Pune plant also had crossed a notable milestone of producing over 2,50,000 units for exports since 2010, the company said.

The Pune facility earlier in 2016 had rolled out the first made for India car - the Ameo. It started producing the first left-hand drive cars in 2012.

The Pune facility covers the entire production process from the press shop to assembly, and manufactures the Polo, the Ameo, and the Vento and Skoda Rapid.

In 2016, the plant has produced over 36,700 Polo cars, 15,400 Ameo cars which started production in May, 83,300 Vento cars and 9,600 Rapid cars, while domestic production stood at over 60,500 units from the plant, which was up 12 per cent from 2015. The Polo and Vento produced for exports stood at over 84,500 cars, up 22 per cent over the past year.

Commenting on the milestone, Volkswagen India president and managing director Andreas Lauermann said 2016 was the fourth year in a row that our Pune plant has recorded a growth in volume.

"Despite a challenging year, there was a surge in demand for our cars which was led by the made-for- India and made-in-India Ameo and the Vento," Lauermann said.

Volkswagen has pumped in over Rs 5,720 crore or 850 million euros into the Pune plant so far. And the plant has achieved a localisation level of around 82 per cent, excluding the engines and transmissions, he said.

Since the past 15 years, the Volkswagen Group India is represented by five passenger car brands -- Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche, Skoda, and Volkswagen.

Its India journey began with the Skoda in 2001 followed by Audi and Volkswagen in 2007, and the Porsche and Lamborghini brands in 2012. Today the group, which has two plants (Pune and Aurangabad) in the country sells over 25 models in the country, through 240 dealerships.

While the Pune plant has an installed capacity of

2,00,000 units per year, the Aurangabad plant has the capacity of 89,000 units annum.

The Pune plant rolls our Volkswagen Polo, Ameo and Vento and Skoda Rapid, while Aurangabad unit assembles various premium and luxury models of the Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen.

Globally, the Volkswagen Group is represented by 13 brands -- Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Scania, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, MAN, Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Moia.