Volkswagen's Pune plant rolls out record 1.23 lakh units in 2015
Pune plant crossed 5,75,000 unit since the start of operations in March 2009.
Mumbai: Volkswagen, under the regulatory scanner for cheating on emission tests here as well as elsewhere in the world, today said its Indian unit had recorded its best-ever production of 1,23,456 units at its Pune plant in 2015, up 10 per cent from the previous year.
"In 2015, we rolled out 1,23,456 cars from the production facility at Chakan. These were 12,012 units or 10 per cent more than the comparable numbers in 2014," the German company said in a statement.
It said the record production was driven by higher demand in domestic as well as export markets, led by its Vento model, which cornered around 60 per cent of the total production. With this, production at Chakan, Pune plant crossed 5,75,000 unit since the start of operations in March 2009. Volkswagen India president and MD managing director Andreas Lauermann said the Pune plant increased production for the third year in a row following rising demand from both domestic as well as export markets.
He expressed hope that the new sedan in the pipeline will help in carrying the pace forward in 2016, even though the second half of the year gone by was challenging due to the emission cheating crisis. He said out of the 1,23,456 units rolled out from the Chakan plant, around 72,000 were Vento sedans, 38,800 Polo compacts and 12,700 of Skoda Rapids. Production for domestic sales grew 23 per cent to 54,140 units, and for exports rose 4 per cent to 69,300 units in 2015.
It ships Ventos to over 35 markets, with Argentina being the latest. The Pune-made Vento was showcased at the Hannover Messe in April 2015. The Volkswagen Group, present in the country for the past 14 years, sells five passenger car brands in India -- Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche, Skoda and Volkswagen. While the group entered the country in 2001 with Skoda, the Audi and Volkswagen brands came in 2007, with Porsche and Lamborghini brands following in 2012. Each brand operates as an independent entity here.
The Volkswagen Group India sells over 25 models through its 240 dealerships and most of the cars are assembled at its Pune and Aurangabad plants. The Pune plant has an annual capacity of 1,30,000 units and rolls out the Polo and Vento from the Volkswagen stable and the Rapid from Skoda, while the Aurangabad plant with a capacity of 89,000 units assembles various premium and luxury models from the Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen stables.
Globally, the German giant sells thousands of models from 12 brands--Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Scania, SEAT, Skoda, MAN, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, and Volkswagen Cars.
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