Skip to main content

Tennessee is Likely Locale for Volkswagen’s New EV Factory

Last month, Volkswagen global brand head Herbert Diess said that Chattanooga would be the likely location for the company’s new electric vehicle plant. But he was also careful to specify that VW had made “no formal decision” on the matter.

While it’s always best to wait for the press release to say anything definitive, the automaker has begun posting openings for specialized positions that would relate to its upcoming MEB platform in Tennessee. Perviously, the automaker had only said it intended to build MEB vehicles at its plant in Zwickau, Germany, beginning with the I.D. hatchback model in 2019. It also mentioned it was planning a facility in China while the American site was still under consideration. 

Although, with electric vehicles still stuck in a niche market, it might not make sense for VW to establish a new worksite for them. That’s one reason Chattanooga is the likely candidate. Instead of setting up a new facility, the company could expand upon an existing one.

“Chattanooga is highly underutilized [in its current form],” Dave Sullivan, a senior analyst with AutoPacific, told Automotive News. “If VW’s plant can mimic Nissan’s Smyrna plant — building a sedan, crossover and an EV under the same roof — they will be well on their way towards increased capacity utilization.”

Presently, the 3.4-million-square-foot Tennessee plant assembles two models: the Atlas crossover and the Passat sedan. While the Atlas is expected to rake in additional sales as the global crossover craze continues, VW has witnessed Passat volume shrink in North America every year since 2013. Annual sales for the model now represent about half of their post-recession peak and don’t look like they’ll be bouncing back any time soon.

Chattanooga is also the only automobile manufacturing plant in the entire world to receive a top rating in the LEED green building certifications. Receiving a large amount of its electrical power from a nearby solar park and reusing rainwater for cooling and restrooms, the site would make a primo location for VW to continue its green initiative. Building energy-efficient cars at an energy-efficient factory sounds like just the ticket to help the world forget about that pesky diesel emissions scandal from 2015.

While the I.D. hatchback is the first electric model slated to go into production, North America may not see assembly of that particular vehicle. Instead, we’re banking on VW focusing on larger models — like the Crozz and Microbus — within the United States.

This article first appeared on thetruthaboutcars.com

The post Tennessee is Likely Locale for Volkswagen’s New EV Factory appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2B8Ptxb
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Zerouno Cruis’n USA

ItalDesign is drumming up excitement for its new supercar based around the same 5.2-liter Audi V10 that powers the R8. Naturally, it hit the road for a cruise around California last week to celebrate Monterey Car Week. There isn’t much in the way of V10 noise—which is a real shame given the sound it makes—but you do at least get a good look at the car inside and out in this video. With a body made entirely of carbon fiber and designed to be as aerodynamic and light as possible, ItalDesign figures that it will be good for a 0-60 time of just 3.2 seconds. “We put it our best skills into the production of the first car,” said Massimo Bovi, head of pre-series production, when the Zerouno was first unveiled in Geneva earlier this year. “Using some of the finest productions methods and engaging our high-skilled workers.” The car features clever aero tricks gleaned from single-seat racing, like a y-duct up front to improve downforce and turn-in. Available in a number of trim levels, the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Volkswagen Golf GTE Wins Top Honor at the 2015 Business Techies Awards

Golf GTE wins Green category in the 2015 BusinessCar Fleet Technology awards Judges praised the Golf GTE for its performance, ease of use and economy Golf GTE launched earlier this year with plug-in hybrid technology – priced from £33,755 204 PS performance combined with CO 2  emissions of just 39 g/km Volkswagen has added to its growing list of 2015 automotive industry accolades by winning the Green category in the annual BusinessCar Fleet Technology Awards – the Techies. The prestigious title was awarded to Volkswagen for the Golf GTE, an innovative plug-in hybrid that combines sporty dynamics with exceptional fuel economy and low CO 2  emissions. Now in their seventh year, the Techies are judged by both BusinessCar’s experienced editorial panel with help from TRL’s technology expert. The industry’s only technology-specific awards, the BusinessCar Techies reward the use of technology to make business car fleet operations easier, cheaper, cleaner, safer and more straig...
Post a Comment
Read more