The current Jetta has secured a good position on the booming Chinese market, as the car’s 2008 sales reached 200,000 units, accounting for 40 percent of the total FAW VW sales during that year. The company wants to maintain this sales trend.
FAW-VW began the production of the Jetta in 2007, at FAW’s Chengdu production site. The joint venture has set a high sales target, as the company aims to reach an annual output and sales figure of 1 million vehicles. Last year, the company sold over 680,000 vehicles, a figure that can be translated into a 32 percent increase.
The current Jetta will not remain in production for long, as the next generation model is scheduled to enter the market in the near future. The upcoming car is expected to be produced at the JV’s new Chengdu plant. The latter is a project developed since May 2009, when the two companies invested $732 million in building it. The factory is expected to produce 150,000 every year. The new production site is scheduled to reach a production output of 350,000 vehicles per year in the future.
The FAW-VW joint-venture, FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Company on its full name, was created in 1990 to introduce the German manufacturer on the Chinese automotive market. Volkswagen AG own 20 percent of the JV’s shares, Audi AG has 10 percent, Volkswagen China Invest holds 10 percent and the remaining 60 percent belongs to First Automotive Works.
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