[TusharK]

According to a media report, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India is planning to shut production for almost 6-7 weeks during November 2019 and January 2020.



The carmaker is planning to cut production as it expects a drop in demand post the festive season. Exports are also expected to slow down, while the transition to BS6 emission norms post April 2020 could also affect sales.

The report states that the company had shut production at its Chakan and Aurangabad units earlier this month. Production was resumed in the third week of November.

In December, Skoda & VW plants are expected to be shut for scheduled repair and maintenance work. The carmaker is also said to be in the process of upgrading the production lines for the new MQB A0 IN platform.

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Link to Team-BHP News

[WhiteFang]

It makes sense to cut down production than giving away cars at the last moment without any profit margin. The main reason for this decision is the slump in the export volumes rather than the present slow down in the Indian market. The world has moved to the next-generation platform of Polo and Vento and demand is not much there like before for the old generation products made here. I hope this will make Volkswagen Skoda speed up the process of adaptation to a new platform for India.

[ram87pune]

Shutting down production for even a single day saves OEMs crores of rupees. So its a win win situation for them. Most OEMs have maintenance shutdowns in the month of December. So basically VW/Skoda are clubbing the maintenance and line upgradation. A clever move.

This can also mean that they are having a bit more unsold inventory of BS4 cars than they had earlier anticipated. So they want to get rid of that through discounting and other modes ASAP.

[GTO]

My god, this is like a body blow to any car manufacturer. They have enormous fixed costs that have to be paid, whether the factory runs or not. But Skoda-VW are big enough to weather the tide - my heart goes out to the entry level workers & contract dudes who are hit the most. These guys are at the bottom of the food chain.

Here is an article with some more information - link

[wheelguy]

Skoda-VW plans 2 months of shutdown in 2020, 20 days of annual leave to be deducted for the planned production holidays under wage settlement agreement.

In effect, the company will have only 180.5 production days, 124.5 non-production days and about 53-60 days of shutdown.

Pune: Skoda-Volkswagen India has fixed 53 days of shutdown and 16 additional non-production days in 2020 as it tries to reform and chalk out a strategy that will allow it to gain market share in the Indian car market.

At present, the company sells fewer than two cars for every 100 new cars in India. The company has also planned a reduction of 7,000 cars. Further, according to the company’s internal planning calendar, accessed by TOI, it will be shifting to a four-day work week for 15 straight weeks from the second week of September.

The company said there will be no layoffs. “This optimized model ensures that we are able to retain our full workforce, and continue training and upskilling our team,” the spokesperson said.

An executive said more people are likely to be hired under the 2.0 programme. There are unlikely to be pay cuts, apart from leaves that will be deducted under the wage settlement with the union. Under this agreement, about 20 days of annual leave are deducted in case of planned non-production holidays.

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