WV Adds Shifts to Meet Demand for the New Golf

VW said it plans to add an extra shift at its Wolfsburg plant to meet demand for the new Golf hatchback, which hit the market at the end of 2012.

The seventh generation Golf arrived in showrooms in Germany in November 2012 and orders have surpassed 100,000 vehicles. Therefore, the company decided to add three Saturday shifts by the end of March to manufacture 2,000 more vehicles. Although the Golf is the best-selling car in Europe, the tough economical situation on the continent made sales of the model drop 32% to 22,698 units in December and 11% for the year to 485,742 units.

During November and December, sales of the Golf dropped 17% to 16,537 units, despite the bonuses offered to dealers in order to boost sales. The company said that the comparison with 2011 sales was unfair as the new Golf was only in its start-up phase and sales of the model only began on November 10th. According to VW, the Golf has been the leader in auto sales in Europe for the past nine years. In December, VW’s sales in Germany, its home market fell 23%, amid a 16% drop in demand in Europe, which heads towards the 6th consecutive year of decline.