Volkswagen India has increased production capacity at its plant in Chakan near Pune to cater to growing demand and to manufacture a new car, Ameo, which will be introduced in India later this year.
The company has added a third shift to run the plant round-the-clock and has recruited an additional 800 employees in the first phase. More people are to be added in the coming months, the company said.
The plant was earlier run on two shifts with a maximum production capacity of 130,000 cars a year. This capacity almost saturated as the company produced 123,456 cars in 2015.
Andreas Lauermann, president and managing director, Volkswagen India Private Ltd, said, “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. In all, we expect to increase our production by around 15 per cent this year as compared to the last one.”
Dr. Lauermann said, “We have been hiring workforce across levels with varying skill sets. Our production processes demand skilled workers and we have been appointing the right people for the right jobs.”
Volkswagen India currently manufactures Volkswagen Polo, Volkswagen Vento and ŠKODA Rapid at its manufacturing facility in Chakan. It is also assembling the 1.5-litre TDI engine at this plant, where it has invested €800 million.
