MEXICO CITY -- Volkswagen AG’s Mexico unit expects to produce a record volume of about 450,000 vehicles at its Puebla assembly plant in 2008.
In 2007, Volkswagen de Mexico produced 411,129 vehicles, up 18.0 percent from 2006, the company said today.
“Despite the adversities faced, it was the second-highest figure in the history of this plant,” Volkswagen de Mexico said in a statement. The automaker was apparently referring to the sabotaging of southern Mexico’s energy pipelines, which forced production to shut down for a week last summer.
The Puebla plant’s production record of 425,703 vehicles was set in 2000.
VW exported 332,106 vehicles out of the total, up 17.7 percent. Europe took 140,737 and the United States and Canada 133,536. South America and the Asia-Pacific region took the remainder. A total of 79,023 remained to sell in Mexico.
