Volkswagen Breaks Ground on New Factory in South China

VolkswagenVolkswagenGermany, 1938 > present98 models
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has broken ground on a new factory in Changsha, China, in the south-central portion of the country that will be able to build 300,000 cars a year when it is finished. It will be operated with joint venture partner ShanghaiShanghaiChina, 1958 > 19792 models
.

"We are expanding our capacity in China to four million vehicles per year by 2018 in order to meet demand from our Chinese customers”, said Jochem Heizmann, head of Volkswagen Group China. 

The factory will be finished at the end of 2015 and include a press shop, body shop, paint shop and assembly line. It will be among Volkswagen's Think Blue factories with reduced CO2 emissions, water consumption and solvent emissions. 

VW is investing €9.8 billion with its two joint venture partners - Shanghai and FAWHongqiChina, 1990 > present2 models
. Its goal is to strengthen its position as China's leading automaker. 

VW and Shanghai have joint factories in Shanghai, Nanjing and Yizheng. It is adding two more factories in addition to the one in Changsa in Ningbo and Urumqi. 

It has factories with FAW in Changchun and Chengdu and a factory under construction in Foshan. 

Volkswagen Group builds 20 models in China among its brands.