Volkswagen to open 30 outlets in India by 2009

New Delhi, May 4: German car maker Volkswagen plans to open 30 outlets in the country by the end of 2009. ''The company is aiming to open 30 outlets in India by end 2009,'' Volkswagen India President Joerg Mueller said. He added that Volkswagen aims to operate 15 outlets in the country in 2008 and will soon finalise its further network partners.

Volkswagen currently operates franchises in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and now adds Hyderabad, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and a another franchise in Delhi to its network. With an upsurge in demand from across the country, the company is building up a plant at Chakan in Pune with a start of production in 2009. Volkswagen is also increasing its investments in India to 580 million euros against the initially planned 410 million euros as it aims to fully exploit the Indian small car market.

The company plans on a 41 per cent increase in the investments to India as it intends to start production of Fabia from its Chakan plant. The move is aimed at meeting the need to locally produce Fabia and the company expects to roll out Fabia from the Chakan plant, which has an annual capacity of 1,10,000 units, by March 2009.

At present, Fabia is being assembled at Skoda's Aurangabad facility. Fabia has been launched in the Indian market priced in the range of Rs 4.99 lakh and Rs 7.68 lakh at the Auto Expo held in January.

UNI