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October 3, 2011

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Home » Supplement » Germany

Shanghai Volkswagen breaks production record

By Vivian Jin | October 3, 2011, Monday | Print Edition

AS a cashmere brown-colored NEW PASSAT drove off a production line at the Nanjing manufacturing plant on September 9, Shanghai Volkswagen celebrated its 7 millionth vehicle produced in the world's largest auto market.

The NEW PASSAT mid-to-high class sedan marked the moment when SVW became the car maker with the largest vehicle population in China - less than a year after its previous record high of 6 million units was reached in October 2010.

"We are grateful to the vast number of users for their trust in us, and the liking they have taken in our products," said Zhang Hailiang, the managing director of Shanghai Volkswagen.

"In the years to come, we will offer more new products that are suited to the needs of the Chinese market. With the extension of the product lineup and the expansion of production capacity, SVW will proceed from the new starting line, forge ahead without relaxing and work toward a more promising prospect."

As it took SVW less than 11 months to increase its production capacity by 1 million units in China, the car maker's rapid business expansion has played an important role in spurring the market demand that enabled the spectacular growth.

As the earliest pioneer in the Chinese car market and the most successful Sino-German vehicle joint venture, SVW has always been following the principle of meeting local demand with excellent products.

By introducing and strengthening the research and development for new vehicle models, upgrading existing products and constantly optimizing the product mix, SVW has succeeded in introducing numerous competitive models that have taken a leading position in their respective segments.

The competitive models of NEW PASSAT, Tiguan (Tuguan), Lavida (Langyi) and the Polo series have ensured that SVW maintain its enviable brand sales champion honor.

Since entering the Chinese market four years ago, SVW's Skoda brand, which includes three major car lines Octavia (Mingrui), Superb (Haorui) and Fabia (Jingrui), has achieved a total sales volume of more than 500,000 vehicles, becoming one of the joint venture auto brands with the highest growth potential in China.

One of the star brands behind the leapfrog advance from 6 million to 7 million vehicles is the Lavida.

The model accounted for nearly a quarter of the 1 million increment. Designed and developed by SVW, its monthly sales volume has maintained a stable figure of 20,000 vehicles and more.

The brisk sales enabled Lavida to win the honor of domestic single model monthly sales champion and hold the benchmark position in China's new generation compact car market.

The success of Lavida perfectly reflects SVW's R&D strength and accurate grasp of the market demand that allows it to be fully recognized by the Chinese and German shareholders.

In April this year, SAIC Motor and Volkswagen AG signed a cooperation agreement in support of a series of SVW's development projects.

C-class for China

Under the joint statement and the agreement that have been signed, the Chinese and German investors will jointly support SVW in its effort to develop a high-end C-class passenger car for the Chinese market on the basis of Volkswagen AG's state-of-the-art platform and engine technology.

The product will be the first VW brand high-end C-class model to be made by SVW. In addition, the Chinese and German sides will also jointly support SVW in its efforts to develop new-energy vehicle technology, with the aim of promoting SVW's electric vehicle production ability and the establishment of a self-owned brand.

Meanwhile, SVW will also introduce Volkswagen Group's latest MQB platform technology to the company. Along with the new platform, SVW will have access to develop products covering a complete range of vehicle segments including AO, A, B and C class models, as well as SUV and electric vehicles.

This shot in the arm will ensure SVW's product strategy for the coming five years.

The growing demand for its products and an ever-extending product range have resulted in capacity restrictions of SVW.

SVW has major production sites in Shanghai's Anting area and in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. The production sites comprise four car plants and two engine plants.

The plants in Anting have been operating at full capacity for a long time, and the plant in Nanjing will soon operate at its full capacity, too.

However, SVW's output is still short of the market demand, and the execution of orders for quite a few fast-selling models has been postponed for a few months.

In order to ramp up supply, the car maker said it would optimize production at the existing plants. It plans to expand the capacity of its Nanjing plant up to 300,000 vehicles a year, and will also speed up the construction of SVW's fifth car manufacturing plant in Yizheng, Jiangsu Province.

According to the new product plan, the Yizheng plant will have a capacity of 300,000 units a year, and is scheduled to go into operation by the end of 2012.

"We are fully justified to say that the marks of SVW's 8 millionth, 9 millionth and even 10 millionth car will come much sooner than ever before," said Zhang.

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