Audi plans to increase hiring program in Germany

Dow Jones Newswires (Frankfurt) - Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) unit Audi said Monday it wants to hire about 2,700 staff in Germany, more than previously planned.

Audi said it wants to hire about 2,000 specialists and 700 apprentices. In addition, it wants to give up to 700 temporary staff long-term contracts.

The company aims to increase its world-wide workforce to 70,000 from 64,000 by 2020 but if the company continues to grow at current pace "it might be that we reach this goal earlier," said a spokesman.

Separately, Der Spiegel reports that the German car maker has decided to build a plant in Mexico, which will start production in 2015, without citing sources. The Volkswagen supervisory board wants to approve the plant at a meeting April 18, the magazine says.

The spokesman declined to comment on the report.

Some Volkswagen managers had preferred to extend the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, U.S. The Mexican plant will produce a new generation of the Q5 sports-utility vehicle and the German plant, which now makes the Q5, will produce a different model, according to Spiegel.