VW Cancels Some Shifts at Wolfsburg Plant

Volkswagen Group has agreed to cut some night shifts at its huge Wolfsburg plant as it struggles to cure manufacturing problems, Reuters reports.

The factory continues to wrestle with glitches that have hurt output of the next-generation Rabbit hatchback. The car rides on VW's MQB modular chassis, which debuted two years ago in the Audi A3.

VW has said the ultra-flexible MQB platform eventually will underpin some 4 million vehicles per year. But months of production snags related in part to robot programming continue to hamper Wolfsburg's output.

Reuters cites a source who says the factory will surpass last year's output of 807,000 cars but isn't likely to achieve its 2014 target of 850,000 units. The production problems cost production chief Michael Macht his job in July.

Swiss business magazine Bilanz reported earlier today that VW's works council decided to halt Sunday work shifts until the technical glitches are resolved. The magazine says VW added extra shifts to make up for lost production.