Huntsville In Front-Run For Volkswagen’s U.S. Site
Europe’s largest and world’s fourth largest car producer, Volkswagen AG favored Huntsville in North Alabama as the site for its new U.S. car plant, according to sources. The plant would cost $800 million to $1.2 billion and it would create as many as 2,000 jobs. The production at the plant is slated to start in 2010, with an annual capacity of 300,000 cars to be reached by 2018.
After considering several states for a new U.S. manufacturing facility, Volkswagen seems ready to break ground for the plant in Huntsville, Alabama. The German automaker is planning a U.S. plant to help reach its ambition of more than tripling its annual U.S. sales by 2018 to 1 million, including 800,000 VW brand and 200,000 Audi sales. In April, the automaker had narrowed the finalists for a possible U.S. assembly plant to sites in Alabama, Tennessee and Michigan.
Reportedly, Chattanooga in Tennessee is the second choice for the automaker to build a plant in the U.S., which is only 102 miles north of Huntsville.
According to several trade publications, Huntsville is the front-runner for the plant, as incentives package from Tennessee topped Alabama’s package in dollar value. Moreover, sources said, Alabama could meet VW’s construction timeline for the plant, while Tennessee couldn’t.
However, Neal Wade, director of the Alabama Development Office, said that the state has not been informed of a decision.
Europe’s largest automaker is expected to choose the site for its plant by the end of the month. According to news reports, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and head of production Jochen Heizmann are expected to make a final recommendation on Monday and VW’s supervisory board will vote on it July 15.
