Officials with Volkswagen announced in July 2008 that the German automaker would build a $1 billion manufacturing plant at Chattanooga’s Enterprise South site.
“What we found here was ideal,” Volkswagen of America CEO Stefan Jacoby said during a news conference at the Hunter Museum of American Art. “This is America at its best.”
Volkswagen’s announcement came just months after Chattanooga came in second to Tupelo, Mississippi, for a Toyota Motor Corp. plant. U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor, recalled that the city had “been through this rodeo before. Corker added that Volkswagen’s announcement left him “emotionally overwhelmed.”
Jacoby called Enterprise South “an excellent site” and said production there was set to begin in early 2011. He said plans called for VW to employ 2,000 workers and roll 150,000 vehicles out of the plant each year.