VW Opens Plant in Changsha

Volkswagen Group has officially opened a factory in Changsha, China, with capacity to make 300,000 VW and Skoda brand vehicles per year.

The 1.2 billion-yuan ($193 million) facility, located 900 km west of Shanghai, is VW's 20th factory in China.

The Changsha facility is the fifth assembly plant operated by VW's Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co. venture with SAIC Motor Corp. VW operates four other assembly plants through its venture with China FAW Group, which is building two more such facilities.

The Changsha plant's first model is VW's best-selling New Lavida small sedan. Shanghai Volkswagen already builds the car at its Anting plant.

VW says the Changsha facility is carbon neutral, thanks to its use of solar and hydro power and pursuit of recycling efforts that cut fresh-water consumption and paint drying energy usage by 20% each. VW claims the facility's solar array can generate some 10 gigawatt-hours of electric energy.