VW To Build U.S. Plant; Location Selected in 2008
November 15, 2007

As anticipated, Volkswagen plans to build an assembly plant in the United States.

Stefan Jacoby, CEO of Volkswagen of America, tells reporters at the Los Angeles auto show that the German automaker will announce where it will build the plant in the first half of 2008. A U.S. assembly plant is part of VW's plant to increase sales and image in the U.S. as well as offset currency fluctuations.

More than likely, the plant will be built, as nearly all new ones have been, in the Southeastern U.S., not far from the assembly plants of BMW in South Carolina and Mercedes-Benz in Alabama. The infrastructure is already in place with a host of German suppliers that have neighboring operations to serve those plants and an affordable –- largely non-union -- workforce. It is in the Eastern time zone, as VW is requiring. And it is in the general region of VW’s newly announced U.S. headquarters in Virginia.

VW is trying to boost its sales and image in the U.S. VW has announced lofty plans to increase annual sales to 800,000 VWs by 2018 and Audi sales to 200,000 by the same year. Jacoby told reporters VW’s plant would have capacity of 200,00 vehicles a year and would start operation in the 2011 to 2012 time frame.

The weak dollar also is driving European automakers to add U.S. production. BMW, for instance, recently announced it would increase production at its South Carolina plant.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 4:13 AM under Commentary , Companies , News | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine