Volkswagen Polo production starts at new Chinese plant
Volkswagen Group has celebrated the completion of construction of its new Yizheng plant in China with the production of its first vehicle.
The Yizheng plant in Eastern China, designed for an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, will be Shanghai Volkswagen’s second plant to produce the Volkswagen Polo in China.
The new production site, that covers approximately 1.3 million square meters, includes press, body and paint shops, a final assembly unit and a technical testing centre as well as a training academy and an energy centre. Volkswagen says the plant will create about 3700 new jobs for the region.
The new plant also sets high environmental standards becoming one of the Volkswagen Group's most environmentally compatible plants. Advanced production processes, geothermal energy to heat and cool the factory halls and solar panels to recharge transfer trucks and employees' e-bikes combine as part of the company's goal of making its worldwide production 25 per cent more environmentally compatible by 2018.
Volkswagen announced plans to construct the plant back in July of 2010 with an intended opening date sometime in 2013, but a construction period of only two years resulted in the new facility being operational earlier. The plant is also planned to produce models from the Volkswagen-owned Skoda brand in the future.
The People's Republic of China is Volkswagen's largest sales market globally, with 2.26 million vehicles delivered to customers in China in 2011.
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