After 30 days of completely halted production at its three car manufacturing plants and one engine facility, due to a shortage of seats previously supplied by Prevent Group-owned Keiper, Volkswagen Brazil announced it had been gradually restoring production, starting in the second half of September.
Volkswagen now makes the seats itself with proprietary tooling previously used by the supplier. Smaller metal parts will now be sourced from several suppliers rather than just one. In an unusual move for the auto industry here, VW advertised its requirements and invited bids through a high-circulation newspaper.
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The automaker plans to pump out 50,000 vehicles in both October and November (compared with its 2016 monthly average of 35,000) to quickly restore inventories and fulfill undelivered orders.
Sales plunged last month due to a lack of stock at dealers. Not one VW model was in the September top 20 list in which the Gol and Fox have rated at least 10th for years.
Volkswagen's market share ranking also plunged – to seventh – last month. In the last two years it had usually been third behind Fiat and GM (the current new leader).
