Volkswagen is deciding where to establish a new factory in North America for making electric vehicles for the U.S. market, the German automaker’s new head for the Americas stated on Wednesday.
Scott Keogh, the recently appointed CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, stated a new plant was required to build a vehicle yet to be unveiled under the Volkswagen brand, priced between $30,000-$40,000, that is due in 2020.
“We are 100 percent deep in the process of ‘We will need an electric car plant in North America,’ and we’re holding those conversations now,” Keogh informed journalists at the Los Angeles auto show.
An electric car that could compete Silicon Valley’s Tesla Inc is part of the massive investment in electric vehicles that Europe’s largest automaker is considering to make.
Volkswagen announced previously this month it would spend nearly 44 billion euros ($50 billion) on developing electric vehicles, autonomous driving and new mobility services by 2023, while discovering areas of cooperation with Ford Motor.
To fulfill a production timeline for 2020, the new electric car is going to initially be sourced outside of the United States, Keogh stated, but then will be produced at the recently chosen site.
Volkswagen’s present U.S. plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the Passat and Atlas are constructed, could be one option as there is enough room at that center, but it will not necessarily be chosen, Keogh stated.
