Volkswagen of America on Tuesday posted its worst November in six years as the emission scandal pushed sales down nearly 25 percent from over a year ago.
Sales of the Chattanooga-made Passat were worse, falling 60 percent, though some of that was due to a production drop of the old version of the sedan as a refreshed model is just hitting dealer showrooms.
VW Expansion
The city’s Industrial Development Board on Tuesday agreed to a pair of contracts valued at $1.21 million related to the expansion of the Chattanooga plant’s paint shop. VW is investing $700 million to produce a new SUV starting in 2016. The two contracts will be paid with city and Hamilton County incentive money. Also, the county Industrial Development Board on Tuesday OK’ed a payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreement with Gestamp, which is building new facilities in Chattanooga to support VW’s planned SUV production and other automakers in the South. Gestamp plans to invest $180 million in Chattanooga and hire 510 more workers.
Also read
* Vote to proceed despite VW’s plan to appeal union election at Chattanooga plant
VW sold 23,882 total vehicles last month, down 24.7 percent from November 2014, according to the German automaker. That’s its worst November since 2010, when it sold 20,189 vehicles. For all of 2015 so far, sales are down 4.3 percent, according to VW.

