VW to invest $800M on new EV in the US

detroit — Volkswagen said it was investing $800 million to build a new electric vehicle at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and scheduled a briefing with Ford Motor Co on their efforts to forge a global alliance.

The German automaker said at the Detroit Auto Show that it was adding 1,000 jobs at the Chattanooga plant and that electric vehicle production there would begin in 2022. Volkswagen chief executive Herbert Diess said the company was considering building luxury Audi vehicles in the United States but that no decisions had been made.

German automakers have been under pressure from US President Donald Trump to increase their investments in the United States. Diess and counterparts from

German automakers BMW and Daimler met with

Trump at the

White House in December to urge the administration not to go through with a threat to slap tariffs on European cars.

The Tennessee investment “is a signal to the government that we are really committed to the United States,” Diess told reporters at the auto show.

Ford and VW confirmed on Monday they would hold a joint conference call on Tuesday “to provide an update on the companies’ ongoing discussions regarding a global alliance.”

Diess and Ford executives ducked questions about how broad their alliance could be, beyond previously disclosed plans to collaborate on commercial vehicles and potentially midsize pickup trucks.

This is a signal to the government that we are really committed to the United States

Herbert Diess, Volkswagen CEO