Volkswagen officials said Friday that it is starting work on a 500-employee supplier park next to the main VW assembly plant that is due to go into production early next year.
Frank Fischer, VW Chattanooga president, said work will start on the supplier park soon and it should be ready by June. He said it will feature two buildings that are each over 220,000 square feet.
There will be a Volkswagen facility manager for the supplier park.
Mr. Fischer said at least six companies will occupy the supplier park. He said contracts are still being worked out with the firms and they could not yet be named.
They will supply such items as exhaust systems, tires and wheels, front and real axles, fuel tanks, seats, floor carpets, headliners and door panels, brake corners, center console kits, wire harnesses and front and rear fascia.
He said the motors will mainly be coming from Mexico, but some motors will arrive from Europe. The gearboxes are produced in Japan.
Mr. Fischer said Volkswagen would prefer that the motors and gearboxes be produced as close to the plant as possible.
Officials said VW has hired 350 employees thus far at the main assembly plant - with a majoring coming from Hamilton County. It will eventually have 2,000 workers. There are expected to be 9,000 spin-off jobs from the VW operation. The Gestamp firm, one of the main suppliers that will be in a separate area near the plant, will provide 230 jobs.
The first group of production team members will be hired this month.
Officials said VW has met its minority quota in the hiring thus far.
Mr. Fischer said the complex process of putting together the huge assembly plant "is still completely on schedule."
He did not give any new details about the vehicle to be produced at the plant, but showed visuals of a sleek compact car. He said VW recently premiered a new compact coupe hybrid at a car show in Detroit. It gets 56 miles per gallon and includes a 27 horsepower electric motor.
Mr. Fischer said Volkswagen is continuing to meet with suppliers, including a third session held Thursday. He said they are being admonished to stay on the tight schedule the main plant is following.
He said equipment is being installed in various portions of the assembly plant, and he said the training center is also rapidly being equipped and will begin worker training soon. The first robots have been put into place at the plant.
He said the assembly plant was built larger than originally planned to accommodate the possible need to build additional vehicles.
Local components sourced to Tennessee firms stands at $307 million, he stated.