Volkswagen has confirmed today that it will be investing $800 million in its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee to prepare the location for production of new electric cars using the MEB platform.
Dr. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG, made the announcement:
“The US is one of the most important locations for us and producing electric cars in Chattanooga is a key part of our growth strategy in North America. The management team lead by Scott Keogh is committed to continuing to increase our market share in the coming years. Together with our ongoing investments and this increase in local production, we are strengthening the foundation for sustainable growth of the Volkswagen brand in the US.”
Last year, it was reported that VW was scouting US locations to build an electric car factory, but now the company has confirmed that it will expand at its current location in Chattanooga.
The first electric vehicle to be produced in Chattanooga will be an all-electric crossover based I.D. CROZZ Concept in 2022 and then the I.D. BUZZ electric microbus will follow later.
Scott Keogh, CEO and president of Volkswagen Group of America, commented on the announcement:
“We could not be prouder to build the future of mobility here in the U.S. We’re known as ‘the people’s car’ for a reason, and our EVs will build on that tradition.” In addition, the Chattanooga plant will continue to produce the Atlas and the Passat.”
Last year, VW announced that its Zwickau factory will be the first to go all-electric and it has since announced two other factories to go electric in Europe.
Now they claim that they will have 8 factories on 3 continents producing electric vehicles based on their new MEB platform by 2022.
The German automaker also claims that they are planning for the capacity to produce 50 million electric cars and vowed to have ‘much lower’ prices than Tesla.
Electrek’s Take
Considering the company is only confirming the production of its all-electric microbus and crossover in the US, which it had already announced, I think the US could still see another VW electric car factory for their less than $30,000 all-electric hatchback.
Now I know that we are again talking about a VW press release about electric vehicles and it’s a 2022 timeline, but we are talking about them spending hundreds of millions in electric car production capacity.
That’s great news. These automakers just work slow, but it’s going to happen.
Source: https://electrek.co/2019/01/14/vw-investing-800-million-us-factory-build-electric-cars/
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