VW will build its US electric cars in Tennessee
EV production starts in 2022.
Volkswagen just made a major commitment to electric car production in the US. The company has revealed that it will open its first dedicated EV factory for North America at its existing facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Production won't start until 2022, but VW claimed the new plant will create 1,000 jobs. The first vehicle out of the gate will be the ID Crozz SUV, which will go on sale in the country in 2020 -- in other words, those initial models will likely come from outside the country.
The brand's very first EV-only factory is already under construction in Zwickau, Germany, with production due toward the end of 2019. Its next plants are coming to the Chinese cities of Anting and Foshan in 2020. The American facility, meanwhile, will get underway at the same time as additional German plants in Emden and Hanover.
The announcement is clearly focused on portraying VW as US-friendly, but it is good news for EV adoption in the country. If the automaker is going to keep prices down and make its EVs more accessible, that means bringing large-scale production closer to customers just like its domestic rivals.
