and employs approximately 2,000 direct workers. Volkswagen invested approximately $1 billion to construct the facility and has created more than 5,000 jobs in the region. According to independent studies, the Volkswagen plant is expected to generate $12 billion in income growth and an additional 9,500 jobs related to its investment. Volkswagen researched 398 possible sites before choosing Tennessee, in part because of its pro-business focus and the combined effort of local, state, and federal governments during the recruitment process. On April 18, 2011, the first Passat rolled off the assembly line, and the plant has a projected annual production of 150,000. The company already has preliminary plans for an additional production line that would increase capacity to 592,000 vehicles a year. “The Passat produced here in Chattanooga will be a key enabler of our growth and will allow us to compete very much in the core of the midsize sedan segment 206
here in the United States, the largest single car segment in the U.S.,� said Jonathan Browning, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America Inc. A tip of the hat to the hard working Tennesseans employed at the Chattanooga plant, the Passat was named the 2012 Motor Trend Car of the Year. “With Volkswagen intent on selling at least one million vehicles in the North American market, its