BY THE NUMBERS
* 149,415 square feet: Original body shop expansion * 130,153 square feet: Body shop expansion increase * $900 million: Original expansion cost ($600 million spent in Tennessee) * $17.8 million: Added expansion costs Source: VW, city of Chattanooga
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Volkswagen's ongoing expansion of its Chattanooga plant appears ready to get even bigger.
City documents show VW plans to add another 130,153 square feet to the factory expansion that began in January as the car maker supersizes its body shop.
The increase boosts the size of the originally planned plant expansion by about 25 percent, costing nearly $18 million more.
VW plant spokesman Scott Wilson said the company has chosen "to exercise the financially responsible option to increase the size of the body shop expansion now to accommodate current and future production needs."
He said taking the action now saves money while giving VW flexibility as it integrates into the plant an innovative new way of assembling vehicles.
VW officials have scheduled a Monday afternoon update on construction of the entire $900 million expansion project unveiled last year to build a new sport utility vehicle.
On Tuesday, VW is to seek approval from the city's Industrial Development Board for what documents call an "expansion of the original body shop project." It seeks to increase builder Gray Construction's contract by $17.8 million.
"It's a project [VW is] paying for," said City Engineer Bill Payne. He said the added money isn't coming from the $52.5 million in city and Hamilton County funds earmarked last year as part of the incentive package for the expansion.
Payne said he didn't know why VW needs the added body shop space.
VW has committed to assembling the midsize SUV at the plant by the end of 2016.
But within a few years the company also is planning to completely revamp the Passat sedan it now makes at the factory. In addition, VW showed off a smaller SUV at the Detroit auto show in January that it may make in Chattanooga in the future.
The documents submitted to the city say VW wants to increase the number of body shop "bays" by 21 from the 14 in the original plan. Payne said a bay is about 80-by-80 feet.
"VW anticipates future expansion beyond the 14 bays" for the SUV. The company "would like to route new utilities that will be serving this current expansion so that they will not require being moved nor interfere with any future expansion," documents say.
The work would take place on the south end of the body shop. Construction plans call for a "dry-in" date for the original 14 bays on Aug. 1. The additional 21 bays would be dried in by Aug. 31 and substantially complete by Oct. 15, documents say.
The new SUV is seen as key to reviving flagging VW sales in the United States, which are down about 9 percent for the year through March compared to 2014.
As newly assembled vehicles await delivery at Volkswagen Chattanooga, a large black curtain protects an expansion of the automaker's body shop.Akshay Anand, an analyst at Kelley Blue Book's KBB.com, said the vehicle "can't come soon enough, so it's good they're preparing appropriate production capacity for the vehicle."
"If the market is in a similar state next year, the SUV should sell well, as Volkswagen always puts out quality product," he said.
The industrial development board on Tuesday also will be asked to sign off on a "payment schedule partnership agreement" to grow the original expansion project.
It says that the parties agree that VW will not seek reimbursement via local incentives. But, the agreement says, it will not affect VW's ability to seek reimbursement from state incentives should they be available.
The state's proposed share of the incentive package is pegged at $165.8 million.
VW announced the expansion to build the SUV last year, which is to eventually add 2,000 more jobs to the 2,400 already at the plant. The German automaker is slated to spend $600 million of the $900 million price tag for the project in Tennessee.
The total original plant expansion was put at 512,886 square feet. That includes growing the body shop, assembly area, pilot hall and warehouse space.
In addition, the company has designed a VW national engineering and planning center for Chattanooga. It's aimed at helping develop current and future models, and at least 200 engineers are expected to be hired to man that facility.
The company is also planning a visitors center which representatives said will be located somewhere in downtown Chattanooga and is expected to open in summer 2016.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.