Countdown Is Under Way for Opening Volkswagen U.S. Plant
Published Feb 16, 2009
Here’s a safe prediction: The VW emblem will become even more commonplace in the Chattanooga area.
Note the irony: U.S land that once housed a World War II military installation will now serve as a home to German automaker Volkswagen.
Volkswagen AG’s only U.S. assembly plant is scheduled to open in Chattanooga in 2011. Current plans are for VW to initially produce an all-new midsize sedan that is being created specifically for the American market.
The company’s announcement in July 2008 culminated a 20-year effort on the part of local civic leaders, state and federal officeholders, and economic development officials to secure such a project.
The 1,340-acre “megasite” where Volkswagen will operate is part of Enterprise South Industrial Park, a former U.S. Army ammunition plant location that was heavily marketed to Toyota in the mid-2000s before the Japanese automaker chose Blue Springs, Miss., near Tupelo, for a new plant.
“We have long looked to attract a large industrial user to that huge, flat piece of land, and we were obviously disappointed in 2007 when we finished second to Tupelo for the Toyota facility,” says J.Ed Marston, vice president of marketing and communications for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. “So in our pitch to VW, Chattanooga touted our strategic location that is about a day’s drive from 70 percent of the U.S. population. We also promoted the fact that Enterprise South has dual railroad access, meaning that both CSX and Norfolk Southern can access rail from there. Because of that, VW can get competitive railroad shipping costs.”
Marston also points out that Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen worked with Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey, Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield and other officials to have a $20 million interchange exit constructed off Interstate 75 directly into the site – even before Volkswagen had made its final decision on which city would get the $1 billion plant.
“That is an example of how local, state and our federal elected leadership have worked cooperatively over the years to have this site ready and make it as attractive as possible to industry,” Marston says.
$511 Million Annual Impact
The assembly facility is simply being referred to for now as the VW Chattanooga plant. The plant manager will be Frank Fischer, who relocated to Chattanooga in early 2009 after overseeing VW facilities in Germany.
According to a University of Tennessee study, the VW plant and its 2,000 jobs will spur an additional 9,500 jobs for suppliers and such, and those 11,500 people will have a $511 million annual impact on the local and regional economies.
Company executives already are planning a second phase of construction that could increase production from an initial 150,000 vehicles annually to nearly 600,000.
“Automotive plants are the Holy Grails of economic development, and our decades of persistence finally paid off,” Mayor Littlefield says. “We turned away a lot of companies over the years that wanted [the parcel], with some of those companies willing to pay high prices ... . But we wanted a top automaker here, and we certainly have one in Volkswagen.”
By early 2009, site preparation was complete, and building construction was about to begin.
Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Jeffrey S. Otto
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