Volkswagen coming coming Come!
Volkswagen management chose Limestone County over Chattanooga for an assembly plant, according to the German publication Automobilwoche.
Citing “sources with direct contact to management board members,” the publication reported Friday that VW Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn and Jochem Heizmann, head of production, would make the final recommendation Monday.
VW’s supervisory board is expected to vote on the recommendation Tuesday, with a formal announcement expected before July 21.
Story disputed
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., however, disputed the reports that management has decided to recommend the Limestone County site.
Corker told WRCB-TV in Chattanooga that he talked to VW officials Friday morning and that Chattanooga is still in the running.
“I’ve read the accounts, and I can absolutely promise you that those comments and prognostications are total speculation,” Corker said.
Alabama officials quiet
Alabama officials have refused comment on the discussions.
The proposed Alabama site is nine miles northeast of downtown Decatur, in a portion of Limestone County that Huntsville recently annexed. It is northwest of Greenbrier Road and Old Alabama 20.
Alabama Department of Transportation is surveying the site for the purpose of widening and realigning Greenbrier Road for improved access to Interstate 565.
According to reports, the $800 million plant would employ 2,000 workers. Production would begin in late 2010, reaching full capacity of 300,000 cars per year in 2018.
According to the German report, VW prefers Limestone County because of a well-developed supplier base, proximity to the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance and a skilled work force.
Alabama also was better able to meet VW’s construction timeline.
According to an Alabama official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Greenbrier property is much flatter than the Chattanooga property. It would therefore require less earth movement before construction could begin.
Some earlier reports have suggested Limestone County might get the assembly plant, with an engine plant going to Chattanooga.
The Automobilwoche report did not mention this possibility.
VW officials declined comment.
VW officials previously have said they hope a U.S. plant will help it triple its annual sales by 2018 to 1 million.
According to last week’s edition of Automobilwoche, VW would produce a compact sedan similar to the Jetta and a medium sedan similar to the Passat. It said Audi, a VW subsidiary, also wants to produce a compact sport utility vehicle, similar to its Q5, at the assembly plant.
Audi, a subsidiary of VW, said it also is considering a U.S. plant. Audi Chief Executive Rupert Stadler told the trade publication eGMcartech for its Friday online edition, “But of course it is also imaginable that we build cars together with Volkswagen in its planned U.S. factory.”
In addition to the Q5, Stadler said Audi was interested in producing its A5 in the United States.
Toyota
Also Friday, Toyota announced it would suspend production of V-8 engines at its Huntsville plant.
None of the plant’s 900 full-time employees will lose their jobs, and the plant will continue producing V-6 engines, officials said.
The suspension of V-8 production begins Aug. 8 and will last until mid-November.
While reducing production of its V-8 engines, Toyota said it would produce the Toyota Prius hybrid in the U.S. for the first time at a plant under construction in Tupelo, Miss.
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