On Thursday, the Wolfsburg-based world’s No. 1 carmaker in terms of passenger car sales, Volkswagen AG, had issued a statement saying that the German carmaker was going to expand its US assembling line at its Chattanooga factory in Tennessee which in effect would be able to manufacture e-vehicle cells and battery packs in the United States.
In point of fact, latest move from the Volkswagen AG came forth at a critical period while the US President Donald Trump alongside his Administration were planning to hit EU-borne autos and auto parts with an added levy, while the recent VW move to streamline its electric vehicle assembling line in the United States might just be aimed at averting the US tariffs on auto exports.
Volkswagen to create a fully operational US production line by Spring 2021
On top of that, the German carmaker had also told that the automotive industry tycoon was working out a laboratory in Chattanooga to develop battery cells and battery packs for its upcoming car models which would be assembled in the United States, while the company had also expressed sheer optimism over reaching its goal to create a fully functional e-vehicle campus in the United States by Spring 2021.
Meanwhile, while the Wolfsburg-based German carmaker’s latest move to launch a e-vehicle production line in the United States came against the backdrop of an emission cheating scandal for its diesel-run vehicles, settlement of which had cost the carmaker €30 billion in punitive measures, Volkswagen’s plan to manufacture its own e-vehicle cells and battery packs in the United States had made it the second automaker after Tesla Inc.
to hold forth over such an ambitious plan. Besides, expressing an out-and-out optimism over Volkswagen AG’s latest expansion strategy in the United States, Volkswagen of America’s Vice President of engineering, Wolfgang Maluche said following the reveal of VW statement, “A lot of auto companies will farm out the development and testing of batteries to another company, and some will actually do the work of developing and testing in-house. We are doing the latter. ”
