VW mulls 2nd U.S. plant, joint production with Ford

Volkswagen, trying to win over German car-bashing President Donald Trump at the White House, dangled ideas to expand U.S. auto production and said it may tap Ford to help build its cars in America.

Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess said Tuesday VW has considered adding a second plant in the U.S., even though the company isn’t fully utilizing its existing factory in Tennessee. He dropped the hint about VW’s burgeoning collaboration with Ford after emerging from White House meetings with peers BMW and Daimler that were aimed at talking the Trump administration out of raising auto tariffs.

“We need additional capacity here in the United States,” Diess told reporters, adding that the company could use a factory making both VW- and Audibranded vehicles. “We might use Ford capacity here in the U.S. to build cars for us.”

The White House is looking to whittle down a $30 billion automotive-trade deficit with Germany by increasing production in the U.S., the biggest chunk of an overall $65 billion trade deficit with the European Union. Trump also is smarting from General Motors’ decision last week to close four U.S. plants and cut thousands of jobs, after he’s repeatedly demanded that car companies build more vehicles in America.

Ford Chairman Bill Ford stopped short of confirming Diess’ comments, saying talks with VW are going well but “haven’t gotten that granular.” Because of the nature of the German auto leaders’ visit to the White House, Diess was trying to show VW’s contributions to the U.S. economy, Ford said.

“He was sort of on the spot,” Ford said. “I probably would have done the same thing if I was in his situation.”