CarBuyersNoteBook

Prototype

Volkswagen recently released a sketch of the midsized sedan that will be built in their Chattanooga, Tennessee factory. The new factory is currently under construction and the new VW sedan has not yet been given a name, but sources say it will be slightly larger than the Passat. VW plans to build 150,000 units annually when the factory opens in early 2011. Most of the new American-made VW sedans will be sold in the United States and Canada.

The Tennessee plant will initially employ about 2,000 people and is part of a long term strategy announced last summer by Volkswagen to sell 800,000 American-made cars per year by 2018. Volkswagen has committed approximately one billion dollars in investment in the new plant, which is expected to generate many related jobs in the community in the area of supply and also in the local retail and service industry. Before opening the Tennessee plant, it had been 20 years since VW had an active plant within the United States.