Janet Dobson bends over to feel the upholstery in a Passat while her husband Chuck talks with a sales representative at Village Volkswagen.Chattanoogan Shelda Rees calls herself “a Toyota girl.”
But the woman is giving up her Avalon for a Volkswagen Passat, being one of the first in the city to have ordered the new Chattanooga-made sedan.
“We were able to go out [to Village Volkswagen] and drive one,” she said of the visit to the dealership with her husband. “We have an order in for the diesel because of the gas mileage.”
VW dealers nationwide have received their first Passats off the $1 billion plant’s assembly line, according to the automaker. The cars, about two per dealer, are show vehicles. But salesmen can take orders for delivery to customers later this year.
Rees said she expects to receive hers in September or October, about the time the cars become generally available.