Inaugurated yesterday, the latest assembly line in Chakan, Pune will start assembling the 1.5-litre TDI diesel engine locally to reduce the input costs.
Yesterday, we were in Chakan, Pune at the launch of Volkswagen’s first engine assembly line in India. This assembly line will assemble the 1.5-litre TDI diesel engine locally to decrease the input costs and increase the margin. The new assembly line was erected in a record time of 11 months and will generate 260 jobs at the Volkswagen plant. It will also create additional 13,000 (approx.) jobs at the suppliers’ ends that will be supplying different parts to VW.
Answering questions, Mr. Mahesh Kodumudi, President and Managing Director, Volkswagen India Pvt. Ltd. said that this plant will help VW save 10-15% of input costs. He also said that 29 parts of the 166 parts needed to assemble the engine are made locally in India and this number is expected to go up in the near future. He also said that this move will not make much difference to the pricing of the car.
Commenting on the gearbox, he said that the gearbox will continue to be imported from Germany to the Indian market and producing or assembling it locally is a far fetched idea as present.
He also said that once the plant goes flat out in production, it will be able to assemble over 98,000 engines annually in a three-shift pattern. These engines are said to be Euro V (or Bharat V) capable and are future compatible.
Mr. Kodumudi said that VW is open to the idea of sharing this engine with other car manufacturers in India in case they are interested. He also said that VW is exploring the possibility of assembling its petrol engines at the same facility, but taking that decision will take some time.
In the first stage, the engines assembled in India will be used only in the Indian market and only for the cars VW Polo, Vento and Skoda Rapid. The engine will be tuned to produce two different power levels – 90PS and 105PS.
Write your Comment