The successor of the Volkswagen Crafter will be manufactured in Poland from 2016. A new plant is being built for this purpose in Września in the Voivodeship Wielkopolska and is to go into production in the second half of 2016. With the new plant, the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand will be creating at least 2,300 new jobs.
"With the decision to build the new Crafter in Poland", explains Dr Leif Östling, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG with responsibility for Commercial Vehicles, "we are setting a new strategic course for our light commercial vehicles." He goes on to say: "The Crafter is the ideal candidate for all growth markets in the world and will further advance Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles along its path as a globally operating manufacturer."
The new plant in Września will become the second site in Poland for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles after Poznań, where the urban delivery vehicle, the Caddy, has been rolling off the assembly line for more than a decade. Dr Eckhard Scholz, Speaker for the Management Board of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: "Our experience with the production of the Caddy in Poland has been excellent. And the region around Września offers an ideal blend in terms of business, infrastructure and the labour market."
enlargeenlarge With the decision for the new site, as of 1 April 2014 Jens Ocksen (53), currently Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles with responsibility for Production and Logistics, will take over responsibility of the Crafter production project, and will become Head of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Poznan Sp.z.o.o. He will remain a member of the management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. Dr Josef Baumert (48), currently Technical Managing Director of the Volkswagen Group Rus and plant manager in Kaluga, Russia, will take over his current role for the production and logistics division.
"The plant in Września will benefit from its proximity to our production in Poznań in every sense – in logistics, suppliers and especially in local experience", Ocksen points out, and goes on to explain that international and Polish suppliers are to be based near the plant. "We are creating more jobs in the region. We are also expanding our production network in Poland and are drawing on two decades of successful manufacturing of light commercial vehicles. Whether it's the Caddy or the T5 from Poznań or in future the Crafter from Września - commercial vehicles 'Made by Volkswagen in Poland' are a success story that goes on with the decision today to build the new plant," continues Ocksen.
The future factory premises will cover some 220 hectares and will consist of a body shop, a paint shop and final assembly. Construction is scheduled to start in the end of 2014 and production is set to start in the fourth quarter of 2016.
