Volkswagen is planning to shift production of its right-hand drive Golf model for the Asia-Pacific region from South Africa to Germany, according to company sources.
Volkswagen officials said on Friday that production would be relocated to VW's main manufacturing plant at Wolfsburg from mid 2008.
A final decision would be made after the company decided on alternative production for Uitenhage, near Port Elizabeth, the German sources said.
VW would not confirm the information and South African VW subsidiary has called the reports purely "speculative," saying no decisions had been taken in the VW group in this respect. It added, however, that Golf and Jetta models would continue to be sold in South Africa if the move did go ahead.
Quid pro quo
Wolfsburg celebrated the production of the 25 millionth Golf this year
During wage negotiations earlier this year, the VW board promised Germany's IG Metall union that it would introduce a new model to the Wolfsburg plant in exchange for an agreement by employees to work longer hours without additional pay.
Bringing the right-hand drive Golf to the German plant would mean an extra 40,000 to 45,000 vehicles per year.
This would save 1,100 jobs threatened by improved productivity and changes related to the introduction of a new Golf model in late 2008.
Last month, Volkswagen announced that pre-tax profits for the first six months had gone up four-fold following the delivery of a record 3.1 million vehicles.
Business booming
Protests were sparked when Golf assembly was halted in Belgium
Europe's largest carmaker also predicted that its sales for the full year would be "well above 6 million vehicles," compared with 5.7 million in 2006, with China, South America and Eastern Europe fuelling the demand.
Shifting production from Uitenhage would be a major blow for the South African plant as the right-hand drive Golf accounts for a third of its output.
In addition to the Golf, the plant also produces smaller Polo models. A report in the newspaper Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung said that as compensation Uitenhage might get another Polo model.
VW employs about 6,600 people in South Africa. Volkswagen earlier transferred Golf assembly from its plant in Brussels to Germany, prompting major protests in Belgium after thousands of jobs were lost.
VW subsidiary Audi has now taken over the Brussels plant where it is soon to produce the new Audi A1 model.
DW staff / dpa (jg)
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...720208,00.html
RHD Golf Production to Move to Wolfsburg ?
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