With one year to go before completing a half century in Mexico, Volkswagen is making plans for the future. Currently, it manufactures five models in Mexico: the New Beetle (sedan and convertible) for the world market; the 4th generation Jetta for Mexico and Latin America; the 5th generation Jetta for the global market; and the Golf (also known as the SportWagen). In 2012, Volkswagen’s Puebla plant produced 640,000 vehicles, with almost all of such production destined for export, which also constituted a record. In 2012, Volkswagen sold 165,220 units of the following brands in Mexico: Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Porsche, Bentley and Volkswagen commercial vehicles. Volkswagen currently assembles 2,500 units per day, which places Volkswagen at the top of the list of the largest automotive plants in the Americas. Volkswagen has 15,500 employees, of which almost 13,000 are unionized, with the rest comprising the company’s management and administrative personnel, in addition to all of the employees who work for Volkswagen’s suppliers. Volkswagen’s decision to enter Mexico almost 50 years ago has to be considered an economic, business and overall success.
