Volkswagen Pours $800 Million Into Tennessee Plant for Electric Vehicle Push
Volkswagen invests $800 million to transform its Chattanooga factory into a North American hub for electric vehicle production. The expansion creates 1,000 jobs and represents a major step in the company's multi-billion dollar shift away from diesel.
Volkswagen commits $800 million to expand its Chattanooga, Tennessee factory to produce next-generation electric vehicles. CEO Dr. Herbert Diess announces at the Detroit Auto Show that this site serves as the company's North American base for EV manufacturing. The massive expansion project brings 1,000 new jobs to the plant.
This Tennessee investment represents a critical piece of Volkswagen's global strategy to move away from diesel following the 2015 emissions cheating scandal. The automaker plans to invest nearly $50 billion worldwide through 2023 to develop and build electric vehicles and digital services. The Volkswagen brand alone aims to sell 1 million EVs globally by 2025.
The Chattanooga factory uses Volkswagen's modular electric toolkit chassis, known as MEB, to build these new vehicles efficiently. While actual production at the Tennessee plant begins in 2022, customers get their first MEB-based vehicle in 2020 as a production version of the I.D. CROZZ SUV concept. The facility currently builds the Atlas SUV and Passat sedan, and continues to operate alongside new EV plants in Germany and China.