Volkswagen has announced that production volumes at its main plant in Wolfsburg will rise to around one million units a year with the launch of the Golf 8.
The German brand said that “higher productivity” would “enable higher capacity utilisation”. This comes after an investment of about €3-billion in the facility in preparation for production of the Golf 8.
In January, the automaker revealed that production of its eighth-generation Golf would commence in Wolfsburg towards the end of June 2019.
VW also announced that it would effectively “bundle” Golf production at its Wolfsburg factory, with production of the hatchback to be relocated from Zwickau and Puebla to the main plant with the launch of the eighth-generation model. In addition, the new Seat Tarraco would also join the assembly line in Wolfsburg.
The brand said its production department had defined a new strategy to “significantly” reduce the complexity of production structures.
“We are planning to increase productivity by 25 percent at all German factories by 2020 as agreed. Further efforts are needed at Volkswagen in future to remain competitive, particularly post-2020,” said Dr. Andreas Tostmann, member of the board of management of the Volkswagen brand responsible for production and logistics.
“A competent, globally leading production network is one of the biggest levers for value enhancement in the Volkswagen Group. The Volkswagen brand has made substantial progress in recent years. We are on the right track. In an industry comparison we are mid-range; we intend to catch up and become one of the best,” Tostmann added.
