Skoda Raising DQ200 Gearbox Output at Czech Plant

VIENNA – Skoda, Volkswagen Group’s Czech subsidiary, will produce more DQ200 transmissions than originally expected at its plant in Vrchlabi, Czech Republic.

Last year, the auto maker announced plans to manufacture DQ200 7-speed direct-shift gearboxes at Vrchlabi, with production scheduled to launch in second-half 2012.

With the new throughput of transmissions, the Czech manufacturer secures the future of the Vrchlabi plant, where the Skoda Octavia and Roomster models currently are assembled. Skoda will phase out car assembly there and focus on vehicle production at two larger plants in Mlada Boleslav and Kvasiny.

Assembly of the Skoda Octavia in Vrchlabi will end this summer, while Roomster builds are slated to be phased out at year’s end and switched to the Kvasiny plant.

The Vrchlabi facility is purely an assembly plant, without welding or paint shops and lacking an ideal highway infrastructure. Therefore, Skoda decided the factory is not suitable for building cars long-term.

Originally, the auto maker said it planned to produce 1,000 DQ200 transmissions a day, but the union representing Vrchlabi workers protested the scheduled end of car production there at the end of 2012. The union feared the conversion would result in the loss of jobs due to low transmission volumes, despite management's insistence that all workers would be retained.

The union said production of 1,000 transmissions a day would secure only 500 to 600 jobs, leaving the future of about 400 Vrchlabi workers unclear. While Skoda management was stressing no jobs would be lost, the changes would mean a transfer to other factories for some employees.

Skoda now says DQ200 production capacity will rise 50% to 1,500 units a day starting in mid-2013, a decision securing a large portion of the remaining jobs at the Vrchlabi plant.

The gap between the end of car production and the increase in transmission output could be bridged with a postponed phaseout of Roomster assembly or by conducting training activities.

Plans call for pilot production of DQ200 transmissions at Vrchlabi to begin in early July, with volume output launching in September. Skoda plans to build some 15,000 of the gearboxes this year.

Czech-made DQ200 transmissions will be used in Skoda, Volkswagen, SEAT and Audi vehicles.

The DQ200 project raises Skoda’s profile as a transmission maker within the VW Group.

In addition to the DQ200 project at Vrchlabi, Skoda produces gearboxes at its main plant in Mlada Boleslav. Last year the auto maker manufactured 604,096 MQ200 transmissions at that facility. Daily MQ200 production capacity is 2,200 units.

Skoda also launched production of the new MQ100 transmission last year. This smaller gearbox is currently installed in VW Up!, Skoda Citigo and SEAT Mii minicars manufactured at a VW plant in neighboring Slovakia. The Czech auto maker can build up to 1,100 MQ100 transmissions per day.