Otto Linder (L), Volkswagen Executive Council President in Mexico, and German Ambassador in Mexico Edmund Duckwitz, pose near an engine during the ceremony of placing of the new factory' s first stone, in Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico, on Jan. 27, 2011. (Xinhua/Jose Murillo Medrano)
Added capacity will be used to manufacture the new EA211 turbocharged engine at the plant in Silao, Guanajuato, which will be integrated into Volkswagen vehicles in North America in 2021.
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- German car manufacturer Volkswagen will invest 233.5 million U.S. dollars to expand its engine plant in central Mexico, in a bid to boost production capacity aimed at the North American market, the company said on Thursday.
Added capacity will be used to manufacture the new EA211 turbocharged engine at the plant in Silao, Guanajuato, which will be integrated into Volkswagen vehicles in North America in 2021, the president of the company in Mexico, Steffen Reiche, explained during a videoconference.
The company's executive vice president of Production and Logistics, Christopher Glover, said the investment will increase production capacity at the plant by 75 percent.
The new engine, Glover said, joins the production of the EA888 2-liter turbocharged engine, which Volkswagen sends to vehicle assembly lines at plants in Chattanooga in U.S. state of Tennessee and central Mexico's Puebla state, and to its Audi subsidiary there.
Volkswagen's engine plant in Silao began operations in January 2013.
The German company is the fourth-largest producer of light vehicles operating in Mexico, according to the most recent official data. ■
