The walls surround Volkswagen’s new $800 million vehicle production facility in Chattanooga as factory appliances are shipped for installation, an official said.
In addition, initial worker recruitment will begin later this year for the meeting of a battery-powered SUV with the pre-production car structure that will begin in 2021, said Tom du Plessis, general manager of VW Chattanooga.
The SUV meeting, called ID.4, will be presented in 2022 as planned, he said.
“We’re in the plan,” du Plessis said of the German manufacturer’s Chattanooga production plant.
According to VW, more than 70% of the structure is complete in the existing frame shop and the structure of a new structure where the battery pack will be assembled.
“The structure phase was not interrupted by the suspension of COVID-19 production,” said VW Chattanooga spokeswoman Amanda Plecas. “All on-site staff followed the same rules that Volkswagen staff and subcontractors adhere today, adding daily temperature controls.”
While production of the Passat sedan and Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs stopped at the plant for approximately two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the structure never stopped at the project, the company said.
The CEO of the du Plessis plant said the company will have to employ more people to prepare for the electric SUV, VW is cautious given the economic benefits of coronavirus.
“Education is organized,” he said. “There is a detailed plan and a specific recruitment plan. We’ll want more staff.”
While hiring will begin this year, it will accumulate in 2021, du Plessis said.
“Let’s start with a small team and expand it,” he said. “This is a difficult time for everyone. We seek to be responsible.”
When Volkswagen announced the assignment more than a year ago, it planned to raise 1,000 jobs to its approximately 3,800 more people in Chattanooga.
The automaker is expanding its footprint by more than 750,000 feet at its Chattanooga facility to produce greener electric vehicles.
The expansion includes a 564,000-foot addition to the frame shop where Volkswagen will build internal combustion engine cars and electric cars on the same meeting line.
In addition, the company is building a 198,000-square-foot facility adjacent to its plant for the gathering of battery packs for battery-powered vehicles.
Volkswagen obtains batteries from SK Innovation, a South Korean company that is building a plant in northeastern Georgia. At VW Chattanooga, the car manufacturer will bring together the battery packs to be installed in the electric SUV.
When production of the all-electric SUV begins in early 2022, he said, the Chattanooga plant will have the capacity to gather more than 100,000 electric cars consistent with the year.
Contact Mike Pare at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.