A German automobile manufacturer with a plant in Chattanooga Wednesday announced that the location has become the company’s first site in the United States to solely produce electric vehicles.
“We’re just starting to write a new chapter for Volkswagen in America, and it is very much an American story,” said Thomas Schäfer, global chairman of Volkswagen. “When we promised to bring Volkswagen EVs to the millions, it always included American workers building those EVs right there in Chattanooga. We couldn’t be prouder to see that vision realized today with our ID.4 electric flagship rolling off the lines. This is another milestone in Volkswagen’s ambitious electrification strategy for the U.S. market and globally.”
The Volkswagen ID.4, which is completely electric, was first launched in 2021. The company says it has sold 190,000 of the model worldwide.
“The start of production is the result of Volkswagen’s $800 million investment into the electrification of its Chattanooga factory, including dedicated facilities for vehicle and battery pack assembly,” according to a press release.
The Volkswagen facility in Chattanooga operates as its own limited liability corporation (LLC). Its leadership also celebrated the beginning of the production of the electric vehicles.
“There has been a tremendous effort by thousands of VW Chattanooga employees to bring this vision to life,” said President and CEO of Volkswagen Chattanooga Operations, LLC, Chris Glover. “I’d like to thank all our highly motivated team members and the extended community of Chattanooga for supporting us as we begin assembly of the ID.4 for the North American market.”
The plant employs over 4,000 Tennesseans, and says it will hire 1,000 more people before the end of 2022 in order to bolster its ability to produce the ID.4.
Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular in the United States, especially as gas prices have hit record highs during the Biden administration.
In fact, Bloomberg says the United States is close to mass adoption of electric vehicles.
“The U.S. is the latest country to pass what’s become a critical EV tipping point: 5% of new car sales powered only by electricity,” according to a July 9 story in the publication. “This threshold signals the start of mass EV adoption, the period when technological preferences rapidly flip, according to the analysis.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Chattanooga Volkswagen” by Chattanooga Volkswagen.
