VW is scouting US locations to build an electric car factory

The Volkswagen Group confirmed that they are scouting locations in the US in order to potentially build an electric car factory to support the MEB platform for an affordable $30,000 to $40,000 electric vehicle.

It’s not entirely news as VW announced earlier this year that its new all-electric car platform will be produced in the US by 2020.

But the question is whether or not they will use their existing plants, build new ones, or do both.

VW North America CEO Scott Keogh said this week that they are looking for a new factory in the US (via NPR):

“We are 100 percent deep in the process of ‘We will need an electric car plant in North America,’ and we’re holding those conversations now,”

The CEO also confirmed that the vehicle will be imported from Europe at first as they prepare local production.

Earlier this year, VW announced that its Zwickau factory will be the first to go all-electric and it has since announced two other factories to go electric in Europe.

While Keogh confirmed that they are actively searching for a new location in the US, he also said that they are still considering adding electric vehicle production capacity to their Chattanooga, Tennessee factory.

He said that they want to bring to market a $30,000 to $40,000 all-electric vehicle:

“The market timing actually is quite perfect. You need to have this intersection of, ‘Can you get costs down enough that you can produce a car at that price point, make enough money, have the technology capabilities that this is a car that we would want to put in the marketplace, and have market acceptance?”

The vehicle has been rumored to be the VW Neo, a golf-size all-electric vehicle built on VW’s new MEB platform.

It is expected to be offered in 3 battery configurations with the base one offering 250 miles of range and starting at just ~$30,000.

Later on, VW also plans to produce its all-electric microbus and crossover in the US on top of the smaller Neo.

Earlier this month, VW claimed they are planning for the capacity to produce 50 million electric cars and vowed to have ‘much lower’ prices than Tesla.