The total capacity of the Changsha plant is about 300,000 vehicles per year.
The Volkswagen Group dedicated today a new vehicle plant of Shanghai-Volkswagen (SVW) in Changsha, southern China. This plant is the Group’s 119th global facility and its 20th in China.
Volkswagen has been a force in the Chinese market for more than 20 years, and is among the country’s western automobile pioneers.
In 2014, Volkswagen, together with its two joint ventures FAW-Volkswagen and Shanghai-Volkswagen, delivered about 3.7 million vehicles to customers in China, representing a 12.4% compared to the previous year. With its partners, the Volkswagen Group will be investing more than €22 billion in China by 2019. GM and its mandated Chinese partners sold a record 3,539,970 vehicles in China in 2014, up 12% from 2013.
Sales in China were a record 19.7 million new light in 2014, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, 19% more than the 16.5 million new cars and light trucks purchased by U.S. consumers.
The new plant is 900 kilometers west of Shanghai. Production of the Volkswagen New Lavida is beginning there after two years of construction. Other models of the Volkswagen and Škoda brands are to follow. The total capacity of the plant is about 300,000 vehicles per year, although analysts are saying that the market is slowing down. The plant is creating more than 4,000 new jobs, together with 4,000 more in the neighboring supplier park.
The Changsha plant is the first production facility of the SVW joint venture to receive the “Triple-Star Green Building Design Award“, the highest state award for environmentally compatible factory design. With a dry painting system (“E-scrub”), water and energy consumption will be reduced by more than 20%. Excess paint particles are filtered out by an electrostatic precipitator system.
In addition, fresh water consumption in production has been reduced by 20% compared with conventional processes by using rainwater and recycled production water. Solar facilities at the plant generate more than 10,000 MWh of power. Further power is generated by local hydroelectric plants. Production at the Changsha vehicle plant is claimed to be carbon-neutral.
