Audi Wants to Add Shifts

The great performance of last year, coupled with the great start in the new year is making Audi executives think very hard on adding some extra shifts at its German plants. The increased work hours are meant to support the increased production target set for 2011 by Audi, which stands at 1.2 million vehicles.

The first month of the year was the best January in the company history, with the auto maker announcing it sold 95,400 cars to customers worldwide, representing a 14.8 percent increase compared to the same month of last year. Thanks to these results, Audi is now looking into the best ways to raise the output.

"There may be a chance to go ahead with extra Saturday shifts, but we have to decide when we could do this," an Audi spokesman was quoted as saying by told just-auto.

"It is an ongoing discussion - we have to discuss for the next few weeks and months how we can handle this to increase production - at the moment it makes no sense to go into detail."

In the last months of 2010, after it became obvious for Audi that the only direction it is heading was up, the car maker announced the biggest investment in its history, with billions to be spent on expansion and development of new products. The goal is to make mother group Volkswagen reach the number one spot by 2018.

“Development of the business in our European export markets is important to our annual forecast, which calls for 1.2 million cars to be sold. And I see strong signs here, with an increase of 18.6 percent in January alone,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi board member for Marketing and Sales.