VW readies new Atlas five-seater; Passat redesign

Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Volkswagen employees work around a car on the assembly line at the production plant in Chattanooga. VW employs about 3,500 people in the city.

Volkswagen Chattanooga Chief Executive Antonio Pinto says the assembly plant is readying for production to start in eight months or so on the new five-seat SUV based off the Atlas.

Also, he said, the factory is slated to begin assembling a redesigned Passat sedan early next year, the first full-fledged remake of that vehicle since its production began in Chattanooga in 2011.

In addition, the plant is still making production and process improvements related to the seven-seat Atlas SUV that went on sale last year, said Pinto in a recent interview.

It has been a busy 11 months on the job for Pinto, who came to Chattanooga to lead the plant after serving as vice president of production at VW's huge Puebla, Mexico, facility. That location is the auto company's biggest outside of its operation in its hometown of Wolfsburg, Germany.

"I like challenges," said Pinto, 54, who oversees VW's sprawling Enterprise South industrial park site where the company employs 3,500 people making two vehicles and soon a third.

He's heading up VW in Chattanooga as the automaker this week marks 10 years since picking the Scenic City to hold its only U.S. production plant.

"We're proud of it," Pinto said. "We're not only an automaker but, community-wide, we are here. We want to be here."

The Portugal native started his career with VW at the company's production facility in that country in 1994. As well as serving at that plant, in Mexico and now Chattanooga, Pinto has worked at VW factories in South Africa and in Brazil.

"I don't like to stay too much time in one place," he said. "One of my teachers taught me to move every three years maximum. You come, implement the way you think is the best way for the plant and the company in one and a half or two years. You collect the fruits."

Pinto, who took the plant's reins after Christian Koch received another assignment in the company, said he likes the momentum VW has gained at the Chattanooga plant.

"In the beginning, we were producing just the Passat," he said. Now, with the seven-seat Atlas and a five-seat version coming soon, coupled with the smaller Tiguan SUV made in Mexico, the automaker is churning out products for the hot SUV segment.

"We have all the products to compete in the U.S. market," he said.

While Volkswagen's market share in the U.S is small, around 3 percent, it has goals of becoming a big player, Pinto said.

"It will take some years, but we will achieve it - that I don't have any doubt," he said.

Nicole Koesling, senior vice president of human resources at the plant, said she likes people such as Pinto who are strong leaders and decision-makers.

"I like people who decide the way forward and who know what they're doing," she said. "He's exactly like that."

Pinto said that Volkswagen's drive to sell more electric vehicles presents a potential opportunity for the Chattanooga plant, and he'd like to see production of those at the factory.

"We want to be much more successful than Tesla in the long run," he said about the Volkswagen Group's ambitious plans to deliver about 1.5 million such vehicles to customers in 2025.

The plant CEO said no decision about electric vehicle production in Chattanooga has been decided.

"We must be one of the first plants at VW in terms of cost, quality, environment, all aspects, and say to our colleagues in Germany that we are the best, and probably some will come," he said.

The redesigned Passat, meanwhile, is scheduled to be ready for production in the beginning of next year and then on sale at dealerships a few months later, Pinto said.

"I drove it," he said. "It's worth it. People will like it."

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Contact him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.