http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/money/2017/09/21/analysis-what-future-holds-vw-chattanooga/601254001/ Analysis: VW looks ahead after state's big investments Sept. 22, 2017 Ted Evanoff, USA TODAY
[images https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2017/01/14/WIGroup/Milwaukee/636200115659875664-Auto-Show-Build-It-or-Melv.jpg (Photo: Tony Ding / AP) https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/2015/06/24/DetroitFreePress/DetroitFreePress/635707424455434552-vw-chattanooga-plant.JPG (Photo: Erik Schelzig, Associated Press) video flash ] ... Just before heading to a major auto show in Frankfurt, VW brand chief Herbert Diess told an inhouse Volkswagen publication the automaker’s future compass will point directly to the new technology – electric cars powered entirely by batteries ... "VW Chattanooga would love to be the plant producing electric vehicles in North America but the company has not announced yet where they will go," VW Chattanooga spokesman Scott Wilson said, adding, "We are definitely in the running." ... Electric future At any rate, rocked by the dieselgate scandal, slow to respond to America’s unbridled demand for sport-utilities and pickup trucks, VW is making sure it does not miss the mark on what looks like the next sure bet – electric cars ... “A company like Volkswagen must lead, not follow,” VW chief executive Matthias Mueller said recently as he showed off electric car plans under the code name Roadmap E. “We are setting the scene for the final breakthrough for e-mobility.” Tennessee taxpayers have bet heavily on VW’s success. It’s not certain what Roadmap E will deliver the Chattanooga plant in terms of new product. But as Americans warm to electric power, Chattanooga will likely get the call. Aware that Tesla is trying to create a mass-market for electric cars, VW execs pledged to spend $24 billion by 2030 gearing up an electric fleet and surpass Tesla in zero-emissions performance. That’s not to say all 300 models and variants sold in various countries will run on electric motors. Plans call for 80 electric models including the Volkswagen I.D. Crozz, a crossover exepcted to debut in 2020 or 2021, and something not seen on the highways since the hippie days of yore – a tiny VW van. “The Microbus has long been part of the California lifestyle,” Diess told reporters recently. “Now we’re bringing it back by reinventing it as an electric vehicle." [© commercialappeal.com] For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
