Volkswagen to open 10 more factories outside Europe

Volkswagen has announced that it will open 10 more factories outside its traditional home base of Europe. With the European markets in severe slump and car sales at an all-time low it seems logical for the German automaker to take the step. The number announced by VW included both assembly and manufacturing plants.             

Not surprisingly, given the size of the growing Chinese car market, the company has said that seven of the 10 factories will located in China itself.  VW chief Martin Winkertorn has already said that the new Chinese plant will be located in south western part of the country.

According to reports, the German automaker is expected to open another plant for the US market. We suspect that the last plant will most likely be located somewhere in Africa or South East Asia as both regions are experiencing a good surge in demand for cars, though in both cases the facility would end up producing slightly low cost cars due to the nature of the market.

The Indian facility is soon expected to start producing engines and components. Volkswagen India has announced in November that they will setup an engine plant by 2015. They also plan to invest 60 million dollars (Rs 322 crore) next year to increase component localisation and boost exports. The German automaker plans to export cars from its Indian facility to places like Taiwan and countries in North Africa.