VW Chattanooga hits 10 years [photos]

Ron Pankratz, senior manager of employee services at Volkswagen, talks about the first Passat that came off the line at the Volkswagen Plant during an interview Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Volkswagen is marking its 10th year since announcing it was coming to Chattanooga. Ron Pankratz, senior manager of employee services at Volkswagen, talks about the first Passat that came off the line at the Volkswagen Plant during an interview Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Volkswagen is marking its 10th year since announcing it was coming to Chattanooga.

By Mike Pare July 15, 2018 9 min read

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VW Chattanooga hits 10 years

Nicole Koesling, the senior vice president of human resources at Volkswagen, talks about her job at the Volkswagen Plant Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Koesling has worked in the human resources department at Volkswagen plants in several countries, including Germany, China, France and the United States.

Nicole Koesling, the senior vice president of human resources at Volkswagen, talks about her experiences living in Chattanooga during an interview at the Volkswagen Plant Wednesday, July 11, 2018. Koesling has moved to several different Volkswagen plants during her time working with the company.

Nicole Koesling, the senior vice president of human resources at Volkswagen, talks about the training process at the Volkswagen Plant Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Koesling said that many of the employees hired Volkswagen are not trained to go directly to work, so there is a training process employees must go through first.

Ron Pankratz, senior manager of employee services at Volkswagen, talks about what makes Volkswagen stand out from other car companies at the Volkswagen Plant Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Pankratz helped hire a large number of the original employees at the company.

Dean Parker, senior director of new projects at Volkswagen, and Ron Pankratz, senior manager of employee services at Volkswagen, pose for a photo at the Volkswagen Plant Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Volkswagen is marking a decade since the company revealed plans to locate its only U.S. production plant in Chattanooga.

Dean Parker, senior director of new projects at Volkswagen, and Ron Pankratz, senior manager of employee services at Volkswagen, talk about being a part of the original hiring process at the Volkswagen Plant Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Volkswagen is marking its 10th year since announcing it was coming to Chattanooga.

Dean Parker, senior director of new projects at Volkswagen, talks about the excitement in the plant as the first vehicles came off the production line at the Volkswagen Plant during an interview Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Volkswagen is marking its 10th year since announcing it was coming to Chattanooga.

Dean Parker, senior director of new projects at Volkswagen, talks about the first cars coming off of the production line at the Volkswagen Plant during an interview Wednesday, July 11, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Parker, who started with the Chattanooga plant in March 2009, came from Toyotaճ San Antonio truck production plant to head the paint shop in the Chattanooga VW plant.

Photo contributed by Volkswagen / An aerial photo shows Volkswagen's production plant in Chattanooga. About 3,500 people now work for VW in the city.

TIMELINE

* April 2008: Volkswagen narrows list of states competing for U.S. production facility to Tennessee, Alabama and Michigan* May 2008: Workers begin clearing part of Enterprise South industrial park in Chattanooga so VW can better see site* July 15, 2008: Chattanooga wins $1 billion VW plant investment with planned 2,000 jobs* May 2009: VW holds ceremonial wall-raising* February 2010: Automaker hires first production workers; adjacent supplier park to employ about 500 initially* November 2011: Chattanooga-made Passat chosen as Motor Trend Car of the Year* December 2011: Plant named world’s only Platinum LEED-certified auto factory* January 2013: VW unveils largest solar farm in Tennessee next to plant* February 2014: Plant workers vote 53 percent to 47 percent against aligning with United Auto Workers* July 15, 2014: VW announces $900 million expansion to build a seven-seat SUV in Chattanooga; plans to hire 2,000 more workers* December 2015: VW skilled trades employees at plant vote 108 to 44 to designate UAW Local 42 as bargaining representative; VW refuses to come to bargaining table* December 2016: Atlas SUV production starts* May 2017: Atlas sales begin* March 2018: VW to produce new five-seat offshoot of Atlas; invest $340 million in plant

BY THE NUMBERS

* $2.24 billion: VW’s investment in Chattanooga over the decade* $818.8 million: Federal, state and local incentives awarded to company since 2008* 22,000: Projected number of jobs generated by VW, suppliers and ripple effects in economySource: VW, University of Tennessee, Good Jobs First

Ron Pankratz joined Volkswagen in Chattanooga nearly 10 years ago and recalls that on his second or third day, people stood in line up to five hours at a job fair in hopes of working for the company.

“Volkswagen was coming back to the U.S.,” said Pankratz, the plant’s senior manager of employee services. He said the automaker took in 30,000 applications for 2,000 planned jobs in a matter of weeks.

Today, the German car company marks a decade since it revealed plans to locate its only U.S. production plant in Chattanooga. The $1 billion plant announcement sent Chattanooga’s stock up as the city became one of fewer than two dozen in the South where cars are assembled.