Vw gets green light for two new plants in China

During the German-Chinese government consultations in Berlin, final approval was granted today for the plants to be built at Foshan and Yizheng.

According to KHABAR KHODRO, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, today signed appropriate declarations together with the Presidents of the Chinese partner organizations.

The first documents for the development of the two sites were signed in the summer of 2010.

“China is already the world’s largest sales market for automobiles and further substantial growth is expected in the future,” Winterkorn said on the occasion of signing the contracts at the Federal Chancellor’s Office in Berlin.

“The Volkswagen Group intends to play a major role in shaping this growth with new environmentally compatible models and the expansion of local production capacity. Our new plants show that Volkswagen remains a strong motor for the Chinese automobile industry.”

Each of the two plants will be designed for an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles and production is due to start in 2013. “The new factories are a key element in our plans to increase annual production capacity in China to three million vehicles in the medium term together with local partners,” said Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group China in Berlin.

In view of the dynamic development of the Chinese automobile market, Volkswagen had boosted its investment program for China to 10.6 billion euros for the period from 2011 to 2015. In addition to the two new plants, plans have already been announced to expand production capacity at each of the existing Nanjing and Chengdu plants to between 300,000 and 350,000 vehicles per year.