Volkswagen To Expand GTI And Golf Production To North America

Volkswagen plans to produce its Golf hatchback in Mexico as part of a push for market share in North America, where it trails global rivals.

VW will build the Golf at its factory in Puebla beginning in the first quarter of 2014, the company said today. Golfs built at the plant will be sold in North and South America, and the production will supplement output of the model at VW's home base in Wolfsburg and in Zwickau in eastern Germany, said Christoph Adomat, a spokesman.

Producing the Golf in Puebla allows Volkswagen to make "further strides towards the goal of building more than 75 percent of the cars Volkswagen of America sells in the North American region," Volkswagen's North America chief Jonathan Browning said in a statement.