Volkswagen AG, the German automaker, picked a site for its new U.S. plant on Tuesday. The site picked was in Chattanooga, Tenn. This is great news for those who are wanting to see more U.S. jobs, and it is great news for the Volunteer State.
The plant is a $1 billion investment by VW, and it is the first U.S. plant for the automaker since it closed its last U.S. plant near Pittsburgh in 1988. The plant will produce a "new midsize sedan designed specifically for the North American consumer."
Chattanooga beat out sites in Alabama and Michigan for the plant, which will provide at least 2,000 jobs directly to the tri-state area of Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. It is to be located on a 1,350-acre site at the Enterprise South Industrial Park, near Interstates 75 and 24.
Chattanooga has been trying to attract an automaker for some time. It missed out on the plant Toyota Motor Corp. is building for $1.3 billion in Tupelo, Miss., and the $1.2 billion plant that Kia Motors Corp. is building in West Point, Georgia.
VW only has a 2 percent stake in the U.S. auto market, but it wants to drastically expand that. The company wants to increase U.S. sales by triple to 1 million by 2018. It is also building factories in Russia and India in a bid to become the world's second largest automaker.
Congrats to Tennessee on attracting this big of a jobmaker!
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