BERLIN, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Volkswagen will expand vehicle production at its traditional Wolfsburg plant significantly in the coming years, the German carmaker announced on Friday.
Andreas Trostmann, Volkswagen head of production, told press that the company aimed to produce 1 million vehicles in Wolfsburg by 2020. Towards this end, the production of the eight generation of the popular Volkswagen Golf model will be concentrated at the plant with current supplementary capacities from Zwickau in Germany and Puebla in Mexico being transferred to Wolfsburg.
Instead of building the Volkswagen Golf, Zwickau will henceforth be responsible for the new fully-electric "ID" model series. Trostmann said that all German plants would raise their productivity by 25 percent until 2020. No information was provided with regards to the future role of the Puebla plant in Mexico.
"In order to remain competitive, Volkswagen needs to undertake further efforts especially with view to the period after 2020," the head of production emphasized. Trostmann hereby echoed a recent announcement by Volkswagen Group chief executive officer (CEO) Herbert Diess to increase efficiency by 30 percent until 2025 across all of the carmakers 12 brands and global network of production sites.
Volkswagen employed more than 62,000 workers and built 790,000 vehicles at the Wolfsburg plant in 2017. Across the world, the brand delivered a total of 6.2 million vehicles and counted around 214,000 staff. The carmaker believes that it can achieve significant cost savings by simplifying its production procedures and relying on a smaller amount of vehicle parts within the wider Volkswagen group.
In September, Volkswagen is scheduled to unveil a new "Transform.Together" production strategy which focuses more on digitalization and other new technologies in the automotive industry. Speaking on Friday, Trostmann highlighted that the success of Volkswagen's response to such structural changes would hinge on providing staff with the necessary qualifications.
The Volkswagen Group was first founded in Wolfsburg in 1937. In 2017, the DAX-listed company achieved gross combined revenue more than 230 billion euros (262 billion U.S. dollar) and employed over 600,000 workers in total.
