FILE PHOTO: A new logo of German carmaker Volkswagen at the VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany September 9, 2019. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE will start deliveries of its new Golf hatchback in December after shaving an hour off the time needed to build its flagship model, the board member responsible for production at the VW brand said on Tuesday.

Volkswagen’s main factory in Wolfsburg, Germany is preparing to make 450,000 Golf cars a year with the manufacturing time of the eighth-generation model sped up by one hour per vehicle, Andreas Tostmann told journalists in a call.

Because VW is able to re-use 80% of the tooling for its new model, VW will invest a midsized triple-digit million euros amount in overhauling production, the carmaker said.