Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Company just got the Chinese government’s approval to build a new assembly plant. Counting the two that are currently under construction, it will bring the total number of Volkswagen plants in China up to 13.
The group’s latest factory represents an investment of $315 million. It will be located not far from the city of Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region in northwestern China. Some have questioned the decision to build the factory there because the province is notorious for terrorist attacks in connection to a separatist group.
Nevertheless, the Ministry of Planning of Xinjiang’s website says that the plant will open in 2013 and that it will have the capacity to build up to 50,000 vehicles a year.
According to the same source, the plant could also serve to build cars for foreign markets, which would be a first for Volkswagen’s Chinese operations. If that is the case, the plant’s location makes perfect sense as the region borders India, Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan, among others.
German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung claims that Volkswagen will build the Polo, the Lavida and the Skoda Octavia there, but the automaker has not confirmed this.
China is without a doubt Volkswagen’s largest global market and a big part of its 2018 expansion plan. From January to October of this year, the automaker sold 1.9 million cars in China, giving it almost 18% of the local passenger car market.
References
1.’VW plant Werk…’ view
2.’China OKs Volkswagen…’ view
