Volkswagen will expand production of the Tiguan compact SUV to its Hanover commercial vehicle plant in northern Germany to boost capacity utilization at the site, according to sources cited by Reuters.
The German automaker has been adding capacity in overseas plants, especially in China and North America, but has now turned its attention to its Hanover facility in Germany. In January, the top labor representative from the plant said the factory needs a new model to safeguard jobs as capacity utilization was running at only 70 percent as demand for commercial vehicles slumped in key European markets.
Hanover hoped to build the next-generation Crafter van, but VW looks set to produce the new model in a new factory in Poland near its Poznan plant. Furthermore, Hanover may also lose an order for Porsche’s Panamera as the sports car manufacturer may add production at its own factory in Leipzig.
More than 14,000 employees work at the Hanover plant where they assemble the T5 van and the Amarok pickup truck. The Tiguan would be a welcome addition to Hanover, as the SUV was the third-most produced model in Germany last year.
According to the same sources, the Hanover plant will build several hundred Tiguan models a day, in addition to the SUV’s main production line in Wolfsburg. VW didn’t comment on the report.
By Dan Mihalascu
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