Seven years after the first car rolled out from the Volkswagen plant at Chakan near Pune, the German car maker is expanding operations by adding an extra shift.

This will enable increase of production by around 15 per cent per annum that will be driven by higher export volumes and high expected demand for the India specific sedan Ameo that will be made here, VW said in a statement.

In 2015, 123,456 cars were produced in a two-shift system which allows a maximum of 130,000 cars.

Andreas Lauermann, President and Managing Director, Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd, said: “In 2016, we are expecting growth in our domestic as well as export volumes. With the new Ameo, a car that has been specially developed for India, we are expecting a higher demand from the domestic Indian market while we look at supplying more cars to our export markets too. In all, we expect to increase our production by around 15% this year as compared to the last one.”

To support the third shift manufacturing, Volkswagen India has already added around 800 new employees in the first step and is planning to hire more as its production goes up through the year.

“We have been hiring workforce across levels with varying skill sets. Our production processes demand skilled workers and we have been carefully appointing the right people for the right jobs,” Lauermann said

Volkswagen India currently manufactures the VW Polo, VW Vento and Škoda Rapid at is manufacturing facility in addition to assembling the 1.5-litre TDI engine. Later this year, the Ameo will be added to the production portfolio on the same line. Volkswagen India has invested approximately Euro 800 million at the plant so far and employs over 4,000 people.

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