By IANS,
New Delhi : Unperturbed by the economic gloom, automobile major Volkswagen Tuesday said it would go ahead with the investment plans for India and no layoffs were planned to cut costs.
“We are ahead of schedule as far as India plans are concerned. We will commission our first manufacturing facility in Pune in 2009, earlier than the scheduled date some time in 2010,” Volkswagen India president and managing director Joerg Mueller told reporters here on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum-India Economic Summit.
“We are not facing any credit crunch and do not plan any layoffs,” he added.
Volkswagen had earlier announced plans to invest about 500 million euros ($632 million) for its Pune factory.
On the launch of new models, Mueller said: “We will be launching new models by in the first quarter of 2009 for the consumer segment and are looking at 2010 for the launch of a commercial vehicle.”
Volkswagen has already sold 150 units of its mid-segment car model, Jetta, till October against a target of 200 units for 2008.