Volkswagen plans to ramp up production of electric vehicles over the next 10 years to 22 million, said the company that has announced a new battery-powered assembly plant in Chattanooga.
Previously, the company said it would aim for 15 million. That was ambitious in itself given that it made fewer than 50,000 battery-only vehicles last year.
Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen AG, addresses the media during the annual press conference of the car manufacturer Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg, Germany, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP)
From right, Hamilton County students Javier Favors, Jordan Kirby, Aaron Bun, Miles Matthews and Marko Burdeiniy listen as Ilker Subasi, assistant manager of technical training at Volkswagen Chattanooga, discusses the program and tools that will be needed to produce electric vehicles at Volkswagen. The modular electric platform shown is used for training purposes.The company is pivoting to electric vehicles as it seeks to comply with new limits on carbon dioxide emissions in Europe, and a push by China for more low-emission vehicles.
In the United States, Volkswagen announced plans in January for an $800 million facility adjacent to its Chattanooga assembly plant to begin producing electric vehicles by 2022. A new battery-powered SUV is slated to be the first vehicle produced in the new plant that will employ 1,000 more employees in Chattanooga.
VW already employs about 3,800 people at the existing Enterprise South industrial park factory that currently makes the Passat sedan and Atlas SUV.