Volkswagen announced the first production location in North America. In future, the Chattanooga plant in Tennessee is to produce vehicles based on the modular electric toolkit MEB, a new generation of electric cars.

For this purpose, Volkswagen is investing about €700 million ($800 million) in the plant. The expansion of the plant will create up to 1,000 new jobs plus additional jobs at suppliers. The first electric car from Chattanooga is to roll off the production line in 2022.

Over the next few years, Volkswagen plans to develop eight MEB plants in Europe, North America and China. Volkswagen is building up the production capacity needed to sell more than 1 million electric cars per year by 2025.

The first electric car to roll off the production line in Chattanooga will be the ID. CROZZ1 SUV model. Volkswagen will also offer the ID. BUZZ1 in North America, the reinterpretation of the legendary VW bus. Both cars are part of Volkswagen’s new ID. family, which will make use of the possibilities of e-mobility. Among other features, the vehicles will offer long ranges, a spacious interior, dynamic driving behavior and a new level of digital connectivity.

Over the next few years, the brand will be launching more than 20 full electric models. The first of these will be the compact ID. 1, with production starting at the Zwickau plant in Germany from the end of 2019. By 2025, the Volkswagen brand intends to sell at least 1 million electric cars per year throughout the world. Further MEB plants are being developed in Emden, Hanover, Dresden and Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic. The Chinese market will be served by the Anting and Foshan plants. All in all, the Volkswagen brand is investing a total of €11 billion in future-oriented technologies by 2023, including €9 billion in e-mobility.