Garrett Jackson polishes a Passat at the Chattanooga Volkswagen Plant.PASSAT PRODUCTIONThe Chattanooga factory produced 40,000 cars in a partial year in 2011. Currently, the plant is making close to 600 cars a day.
Sales of Volkswagen‘s Chattanooga-made Passat are expected to blow by the model’s 11-year-old high mark and set a new U.S. record in 2012, an official said Thursday.
“So that would be a big milestone,” said Carsten Krebs, Volkswagen of America’s corporate communications director.
Through April, Passat sedan sales hit 34,635 units. The current all-time high is 77,523 in 2001, according to VW.
“The car is the right size, priced correctly for the U.S. market now and we offer the only [clean diesel] model in this segment,” Krebs said.