VW Narrows Down US Plant Site List
Detroit News reports that VW has narrowed its list of prospective sites for a new American plant to Michigan, Tennessee and Alabama. The planned factory, which is said to eventually produce vehicles based on VAG's MQB (Golf) platform, is an important measure for VW to fight profit losses due to the weak dollar. The factory should produce up to a quarter million Audis and Vee-Dubs annually, and will employ between 1k and 2k employees. VW will need to sell all of its increased production in order to meet its stated goal of tripling its US sales by 2018, and sell a million vehicles per year. The decision to base the new factory in the Midwest or South comes shortly after VW USA moved its headquarters from Michigan to Virginia, citing the fact that "its customers were concentrated on the East and West coasts." Will a Michigan plant make up for the slight? More importantly, will American production hurt or help VW's spotty reliability record? Expect more details when a final decision is announced sometime this summer.
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Volkswagen, welcome to Knoxville. With all the benefits of a real city and very few of the drawbacks. Easy access to rail, I-40, 81, and I-75, and there you go. Be seeing ya.
It might have something to do with the fact that Michigan has a large and very experienced workforce in this industry, and lots of 'em are looking for jobs right now ... you could have the cream of the crop.