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DETROIT (Alliance News) - Volkswagen on Monday announced it will invest USD800 million in its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee for manufacturing electric vehicles.
VW head Herbert Diess said producing electric cars in the US state "is a key part of our growth strategy in North America," during the announcement at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Production of electric vehicles is set to begin at the site in 2022, the company said. Volkswagen currently builds the midsize Atlas sports utility vehicle and the Passat sedan at the Chattanooga factory, which opened in 2011.
The Chattanooga factory will use VW's modular electric toolkit chassis to manufacture the electric vehicles.
In addition to Chattanooga, VW is building the first dedicated electric vehicle production facility in Zwickau, Germany. It will use the same chassis-building process starting by the end of this year.
Volkswagen will also add production of electric vehicles at facilities in Anting and Foshan, in China, in 2020, and in the German cities of Emden and Hanover by 2022, a news release said.
VW plans to commit almost USD50 billion through 2023 toward the development and production of electric vehicles and digital services. The German carmaker has forecasted sales of 150,000 electric vehicles in the VW brand by 2020 worldwide.
The number is forecast to increase to 1 million by 2025.