FRANKFURT (AP) -- Volkswagen AG said Tuesday it has opened a new production plant in Pune, India, where the Skoda Fabia and a new version of the VW Polo will be built for the domestic market.
Skoda is one of Volkswagen's nine brands, which also include Audi and Bentley luxury cars and Scania heavy-duty trucks.
Wolfsburg-based VW, Europe's largest carmaker by sales, said it invested about €580 million ($771 million) in the new facility. Pune is near Mumbai in western India.
"With the start of production at our new plant in Maharashtra State, the Volkswagen Group has conclusively arrived on India's emerging market," Jochem Heizmann, a VW production official, said at the opening ceremony.
VW, which also has a production facility in nearby Aurangabad, said the new plant has an annual capacity of 110,000 vehicles and expects to employ about 2,500 there at the end of 2010.
The company said the Indian automobile market is expected to nearly double by 2014.