.

.
January 29, 2003
.
This Week:

• "Car of the Year 2003" awards

• Lincoln Enters The Armored Vehicle Market With Town Car BPS

• Volkswagen opens joint venture for gearbox production in China

• BMW Group Receives Four Awards in Strategic Vision's Total Delight Index

• Scion Announces Media Planning And Buying Partner

• Ford To Open New Parts Distribution Center In Shawnee, Kansas

• GMM Achieves Unprecedented Results During The Year

• Audi's seventh record-breaking year in succession

• Ultrasonic Park Assist world leader Valeo to launch Master-Park(TM)to the Aftermarket

• Ford's 2002 Operating Results Improve By $1.7 Billion Vs. Prior Year

© 1998 - 2003 Copyright & 
Disclaimer
Automotive Intelligence,
www.autointell.com
All Rights Reserved .
For questions please contact
editor@autointell.com  

.
Volkswagen opens joint venture for gearbox production in China
 

Wolfsburg - Today Volkswagen and its two Chinese joint venture partners Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and First Automotive Works (FAW) opened their newly built gearbox plant in Shanghai "Volkswagen Transmission (Shanghai) Co.Ltd." (VWTS). Dr Folker Weißgerber, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, officially commissioned the new production facility at an event attended by other representatives from Volkswagen and the partner companies as well as politicians and business people. "This gearbox joint venture will help to deepen cooperation with our Chinese partners and particularly to achieve further synergies", said Dr Weißgerber in his address. Volkswagen AG has a 60 percent share in VWTS with the Chinese partners each holding 20 percent. Volkswagen has thus acquired a majority holding in a production venture for the first time in its 18 years of investment activity in China, while at the same time including both Chinese partners in a joint project.

The five-speed gearboxes produced in the new plant are destined for the Volkswagen Bora and Polo models produced in China. In the first phase of its development the plant will have an annual capacity of 180 000 units. It is planned to increase this in the medium term to 300 000 gearboxes per year. The total investment amounts to some 800 million RMB (120 million euros).

In 2002 the Volkswagen Group delivered some 511 000 vehicles to customers in China representing an increase of more than 42 percent compared with 2001. This makes China already Volkswagen's second largest single market worldwide after Germany.

(Jan 28, 2003)