Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly calls himself “an old car guy,” having grown up in the auto business and operating dealerships himself before running for political office.
In an interview, he termed Volkswagen’s launch of production of the all-electric ID.4 SUV a few months ago “a huge opportunity” for the automaker and the city as VW plans to roll out about 90,000 of the electric vehicles in 2023 from its Chattanooga assembly plant.
The plant employs about 4,700 employees, and the company hired about 1,000 workers over the past year for EV and other assembly.
Chattanooga is sitting amid more than $30 billion of new or planned investments in EVs by auto companies and battery makers in Tennessee and Georgia alone.
In September, Ford Motor Co. broke ground on BlueOval City, less than a year after the company and SK On announced a $5.6 billion investment in West Tennessee.