Located in Ningbo, south eastern China, the facility will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles and will create 5,700 new jobs. The plant features production technology based on the Modular Transverse Toolkit (MQB) and will manufacturer Volkswagen and Skoda models.
The new plant was built in less than two years and is part of the Shanghai-Volkswagen joint venture between SAIC Motor Corporation and Volkswagen AG. Located 150 km south of the greater Shanghai area, the facility has its own press, body and paint shops plus a final assembly unit. The first model to roll off the assembly line will be the Skoda Superb, with other MQB-based VW and Skoda models to follow in the next stage.
“This new, state-of-the-art factory is further proof of the Volkswagen Group's comprehensive commitment in China. For our Group brands, the Ningbo plant also gives new momentum to tapping the full potential of the huge market south and west of Shanghai,” said Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of the Volkswagen Group.
China is the VW Group’s largest sales market, with the German carmaker delivering 2.81 million vehicles in the country last year together with its partners Shanghai-Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen. Deliveries rose 18 percent in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period last year to 2.36 million vehicles. By 2018, the automaker targets an annual production capacity of around 4 million vehicles.
By Dan Mihalascu
UK magazine AutoExpress recently reviewed the latter and did not have a hard time justifying both models, in the end. The Spaceback is pushed forth as a more youthful choice, and it will be an especially important model in the UK, where small sedans are shunned in favor of hatches (and more recently crossovers).
The rest of the package is standard Rapid, with its good and bad points, and even the mechanical tweaks it benefits from don’t really make it any different to the regular model, according to the review. Check it out after the virtual jump.
By Andrei Nedelea
"Thanks to a broad-based, international positioning and a convincing product range we were able to respond well to the continuing uncertainty in the Eurozone and the challenging overall market situation – and have thus been able to win many customers for our attractive models,” commented Group Board Member for Sales Christian Klingler.
While the group's sales were down 2.4 percent in Europe (2.73 million deliveries) and 9.4 percent in South America (681,200), it reported a 9.2 percent increase in North America (664,500 sales) and 16 percent in the Asia-Pacific region (2.63 million). In China alone, the VW Group sold 2.35 million cars in the first nine months of 2013, an increase of 17.7 percent over the same period last year.
By brand, Volkswagen recorded a 3.6 percent increase in global sales (4.36 million), with Audi up 7.6 percent (1.18 million deliveries), Porsche sold 119,700 cars (it became a member of the VW family in August 2012), Skoda dropped 4.5 percent (684,900) and Seat increased its sales by 11.7 percent (266,100 cars).
The group's commercial vehicles division handed over 406,600 models to customers around the world, 0.7 percent less than last year.
As a result, front head room has increased by 8 mm, front elbow width by 39 mm and rear elbow width by 26 mm over the outgoing Octavia. According to Skoda, the Octavia offers a class-leading interior space in the compact segment with 1,782 mm of interior length and the largest boot with a volume of 590 liters.
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