VW rolls out 4th lakh car from Pune plant

Volkswagen India completed five years of production at the Chakan plant in Pune in March 2014. Couple of months later, the German brand has added another feather in its cap as the VW rolled out the 4,00,000th car from the plant. The milestone-achieving car was the recently launched Polo Highline powered by the new 1.5-litre TDI engine. The Pune plant commenced operation in 2009 and manufactured cars only for the domestic market. In 2011, exports commenced with the Vento to South Africa. Currently the plant manufactures Volkswagen’s Polo and Vento and the Skoda Rapid for 32 countries on three continents. The Polo and Vento is also manufacturing in left-hand drive version for Mexico and the Middle-East.

Spread over an area of 575 acres, the construction of the plant was initiated in 2007 with a combined investment of Rs 3800 crore. The seventeen month long construction resulted in the inauguration of the plant on March 31, 2009. The plant started full-fledged production in May 2009 with the Skoda Fabia followed by the Volkswagen Polo in December 2009.

Commenting on the achievement, Mahesh Kodumudi, President and Managing Director, Volkswagen India Private Limited said, “With over 400,000 cars produced at our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for the domestic as well as export market, we have firmly established our operations. We will continue to focus on productivity and further localisation to cater to the demand from our markets.”