Driven by higher export volumes and high expected demand for the India specific sedan Ameo, Volkswagen India is expanding operations at its Pune plant in Chakan by adding a third shift. This will enable increase of production by around 15 per cent per annum.
The German car maker, which readies itself to cater to enhanced demand from export as well as domestic markets, has invested around Rs 6,000 crore at the plant, which employs over 4,000 people.
To support the third shift manufacturing, the company has already added around 800 new employees and is planning to hire more as its production goes up through the year. In 2015, Volkswagen India produced 1.23 lakh cars in a two-shift system.
“In 2016, we are expecting growth in our domestic as well as export volumes,” said Andreas Lauermann, president and managing director, Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd. “With the new Ameo, a car that has been specially developed for India, we are expecting a higher demand from the domestic 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 last year.”
According to Lauermann, the company has been hiring workforce across levels with varying skill sets. “Our production processes demand skilled workers and we have been carefully appointing the right people for the right jobs,” he added.
Volkswagen India currently manufactures the Polo, Vento and Škoda Rapid at is manufacturing facility in Chakan, in addition to assembling the 1.5-litre TDI engine. Later this year, the Ameo will be added to the production portfolio on the same line.
Source : BS Motoring
