Volkswagen to spend over $3.3 billion on North American model expansion

Volkswagen prepares to spend over $3.3 billion on development and production of new models in North America from 2018 to 2020 as the German group restarts operations in the world’s second-largest auto market.

Some $1.2 billion of the planned investments are scheduled for the United States where Volkswagen in 2018 will release a redesigned version of its top-selling Jetta compact sedan and the brand new Arteon fastback, it stated on Sunday.

“We wish to acquire market share and grow from a niche player to a genuinely relevant brand in the United States,” Hinrich Woebcken, CEO of VW’s North America organisation, stated on Sunday at the Detroit auto show.

Volkswagen has been looking to restore its business in the United States where its diesel emissions scandal broke in September 2015. The automaker said it planned to go for least 2 new models in the United States as it intends to break even in terms of operating revenues in North America by 2020.