Volkswagen AG announced that Chattanooga, Tenn. will be the company's North American base for manufacturing electric vehicles.

Strengthening the company's commitment to an electric mobility future, this expansion of Volkswagen's U.S. footprint will include an investment of $800M into the Chattanooga facility and create 1,000 jobs at the plant, plus additional jobs at suppliers. EV production at the site will begin in 2022. Chattanooga will be the first dedicated location in North America for production of a vehicle using Volkswagen's modular electric toolkit chassis, or MEB.

In addition to Chattanooga, Volkswagen is building the first dedicated EV production facility in Zwickau, Germany, starting MEB production by the end of 2019. Volkswagen will also add EV-production at facilities in Anting and Foshan, in China, in 2020, and in the German cities of Emden and Hanover by 2022. Volkswagen currently builds the midsize Atlas SUV and the Passat sedan at the Chattanooga factory, which opened in 2011. A five-seat version of the Atlas, the Atlas Cross Sport, will begin production in Chattanooga later this year.

Globally, Volkswagen Group plans to commit almost $50B through 2023 toward the development and production of electric vehicles and digital services.