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15 AutoData | November 2018 Shutterstock.com/Sebastian Kaulitzki tion for the new model production con- sumed R$ 1.4 billion of the R$ 7 billion in- vested byVW in Brazil until 2020. São José dos Pinhais has gained a completely new area to house the manufacturing of the T-Cross body: 239 robotswith state-of-the- -art technology and laser welding equi- pment were installed in the 5,5 thousand m² of the building expansion. Modifications in the painting area allow T-Cross to receive a second color on the body - VW surrendered to consumer’s demand for another tone at the top. Abrand newequipment for of wax application in the cavities (to ensure extra protection against corrosion) was installed in the area. The unit also received the technolo- gies available in the Volkswagen Group to modernize focusing on the application of Industry 4.0 innovations. According to the company it will be possible to reduce the adjustment time of the tools in the stam- ping and improve the ergonomics in the final assembly, besides the application of new technologies in processes of all the productive areas. Just like the Golf, T-Cross is manufactu- red on the global MQP platform, acronym in German for modular transverse matrix. Besides making the production process more flexible, this architecture allows sharing the structural basis for models of several segments, generating synergies. SUVS’ ATTACK As it is the segment that gains more relevance in the Brazilian market of light vehicles, the SUVs deserve a special at- tention fromVolkswagen in its investment plan. Therewill be five newSUVs launched in the country and T-Cross is the second: the first was the Tiguan Allspace, impor- ted from Mexico, with capacity for seven people. Di Si does not hide his anxiety for the arrival of T-Cross, a fundamental piece to take back the leadership of the Brazilian B y the end of next year first quarter, workers who were temporarily re- moved by Volkswagen in São José dos Pinhais, PR, will return to their jobs. Since mid-2017, the company has been taking turns in groups of five hundred metallurgists, out of 2,5 thousand factory workers, while finalizing the factory’s preparations for the T-Cross production, its first Brazilian SUV. It was the solution found by the company to keep all workers in the period becau- se the it knows that will need them to leverage production of the sport utility vehicle. Inaugurated in 1999 to pro- duce VWGolf and Audi A3, the Volkswagen Group’s unit in Paraná is known as Audi’s factory in the region, even after a period of almost ten years without producing models with the four-ring em- blem - they returned to the line in 2015. The VW Fox and Golf and the Audi A3 Sedan and Q3 are manufactured there, with vo- lumes far below the installed capacity of 160 thousand vehicles/year. The pace will rise with the new SUV of the group, although its president Pablo Di Si does not reveal the model production expectation for the first year. His goal is to put T-Cross on the SUVs podium in the Brazilian market - which would require a minimum volume of 5 thousand units per month, having the performance of rivals in recent months as base. Besides Brazil, the factory will supply the dealerships of the other LatinAmerican countries, starting with Argentina two or three months after its launch in Brazil. The investments for the unit’s adapta-