Production of the new
Volkswagen Golf1 began today at the Volkswagen plant in Puebla, Mexico.
VW’s future plans call for further models from the Golf family for the North
America region to be built at Puebla.
“Volkswagen de México has a
proud history and a promising future. One car in particular is a symbol of
that: The new Golf,” Prof Dr. Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen AG said
in Puebla. “The start of Golf 7 production will give Volkswagen a big boost in
the US and Canada. And it underscores our commitment to Mexico as an automotive
location. That is further confirmed by the US$7 billion our Group will be
investing in North America in the period to 2018.”
The new Volkswagen Golf
will hit North American roads from mid-year as it continues its global success
story. Volkswagen has invested some US$700 million in new production plant and
modern infrastructure for the Golf in Puebla. The first Golf sedan to be built
in Mexico is a red Golf GTI2.
Production of further
derivatives such as the Golf station wagon for the North and South America
regions will begin during the course of the year. Golf production at the Puebla
plant has a capacity of 700 vehicles per working day.
Chief executive officer of
Volkswagen de México, Andreas Hinrichs, underscored the major significance of
the Puebla location for Volkswagen: “Our Puebla factory is today one of the
Group’s highest exporters and one of its largest plants worldwide. Over 10
million vehicles have already been shipped from here to customers all over the
world.”
In addition to the new
Golf, the Puebla plant also builds the coupé and cabriolet versions of the
Volkswagen Beetle plus the Volkswagen Jetta. In terms of technology, these
models also belong to the Golf class and are to be adapted to the structure of
the Modular Transverse Toolkit (MQB) in the medium term.
Furthermore, Volkswagen
began manufacturing modern TSI engines at the Silao engine plant in early 2013.
The Audi facility in San José Chiapa will strengthen the Volkswagen Group’s
production network in North America from 2016.
The vehicles manufactured
in Pueba and the engines produced in Silao are built in accordance with the
state-of-the art environmental standards of the Volkswagen brand’s “Think Blue.
Volkswagen began exports to
Mexico back in 1954. 50 years ago, on January 15, 1964, the Wolfsburg-based
company founded an import, production and sales company called “Volkswagen de
México S.A.” The Beetle began rolling off the assembly line at the new plant in
Puebla in 1967, with production of this model only finally coming to an end in
2003. Alongside the Bulli, the Beetle motorized Mexico for decades.
In 1997, Puebla became the
only plant in the VW group to build the New Beetle, exporting the model all
over the world. Production of the fourth Jetta generation commenced at the same
time. Both models lent key growth momentum to export business at Volkswagen de
México. From 1964 to the present day, the Volkswagen Group has already invested
a total of US$8 billion in Mexico.
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