Volkswagen AG’s Mexican subsidiary said on June 30 that it would reduce daily output at its sole assembly plant by 23% from August and lay off about 2,000 of its 13,770-strong workforce, writes Stephen Downer.
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The decision had been forced on it by shrinking exports of the Jetta [Bora] and New Beetle sedan from the plant in Puebla, VW said in a statement.
The United States and Canada are the prime export markets for the Mexican-built Jetta while Puebla is the company’s only plant building the Beetle and its newly-launched convertible derivative for all world markets.
Volkswagen de Mexico said simply that exports had been “lower than planned.” It announced that trade union leaders would meet with their members this week to “agree on the union’s position with respect to the situation.”
The subsidiary assembles 1,506 vehicles a day. This will drop to 1,072 units a day on August 1.
In the first five months of 2003, 103,379 Beetles and Jettas were assembled at the plant for export but this was 12.8% lower than for the same period of 2002, according to statistics from the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA).
In 2002, Volkswagen de México exported 262,424 vehicles of the Mexican industry total of 1,319,376 units. The industry’s exports for the first five months of this year were 11.6% down on year-ago 2002.
According to Volkswagen de México, of its 13,770-strong workforce, 9,899 are involved in production.
