Volkswagen Celebrates the 11,111,111th Polo

Volkswagen Group India celebrated today the roll-out of the 11,111,111th Polo ever produced in the world, at the the Volkswagen plant in Pune. The event was attended by Horst Kohler, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Jochem Heizmann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG and Jorg Muller, President and Managing Director of VW India.

"We are determined to bring the Polo’s European success story to India. Volkswagen will tap its opportunities in India with vehicles like the Polo, our modern plant in Pune and a highly-motivated workforce," Heizmann said.

"The visit by the German President, today’s production anniversary and the naming of Volkswagen Group India as "Automotive Company of the Year" just a few weeks ago inspire us to continue on the course we have set," Muller added.

The German carmaker began building a hatchback version of the Polo specially designed for the Indian market in December 2009.

"The scale of investment to date and the sustainable employment opportunities for people from the region underscore Volkswagen’s long-term commitment to India,” Heizmann continued. "The Polo built at the Pune plant demonstrates that excellent vehicles are created when German engineering prowess interacts perfectly with Indian skills."

The Pune plant has a maximum annual capacity of 110,000 vehicles and covers all stages in the production process from press shop through body shop and paint shop to final assembly. In addition to the Volkswagen Polo, the Pune plant also builds the Skoda Fabia. Volkswagen plans to employ some 2,500 people locally by the end of 2010.

P.S. Considering that the image with the banner shows up on hundreds of websites and newspapers, you'd think they'd pay more attention to spelling. Notice the classic "it's" versus "its" issue in our third image.