Volkswagen India’s Chakan plant turns five

Volkswagen India's Chakan plant, on March 31, 2014, completed five years of operation. Since inauguration, over 367,000 cars have rolled out of the facility, which also serves as the Volkswagen Group's headquarters in India.

Inaugurated in 2009, this plant was built in 17 months, a record across all Volkswagen facilities worldwide. The plant, set up with an initial investment of Rs 3,800 crore, employs 3,400 people and along with the domestic market, also caters to Volkswagen's exports.

Spread over 575 acres, the Volkswagen Pune Plant is a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility housing the entire automotive production process –

from press shop through to the body shop and paint shop to assembly. It also incorporates futuristic technologies like diode laser welding and inline measurement processes.

Full-fledged manufacturing of cars began in May 2009 with the Škoda Fabia, followed by the Volkswagen Polo in December 2009. Production of the first made-for-India VW model – the Vento, began in August 2010 while that of the Škoda Rapid began in October 2011.

“The Volkswagen Pune Plant is one of the most modern car production facilities in India. We are not only producing cars with the highest quality for the domestic market in India, we are also currently exporting our Polo and Vento models to more than 30 countries across three continents. This is clear proof of the high standards we have achieved at our Pune Plant over the past five years,” said Mahesh Kodumudi, chief representative of Volkswagen Group India and president and MD of Volkswagen India.