WCA September 2011

From the americas

with a Passat for the American market, and it is setting the bar very high at its new $1-billion factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “We know what we have to do here,” Hans- Herbert Jagla, who heads human resources at the plant, told the Los Angeles Times at the opening in June. “Everyone should know that the customer is expecting a perfect car.” Reporting from Chattanooga, the Times ’s Jerry Hirsch noted that Volkswagen, the world’s third-largest auto maker, is looking to triple its US sales over the next seven years. To do so, the company must reverse a troubled history. A previous project to manufacture cars in the US was an acknowledged debacle. Over two decades ago, quality problems and slumping sales prompted VW to close its first US factory, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Mr Hirsch, who covers the automotive industry for the Los Angeles paper, wrote: “It was a huge setback for the company that brought the iconic Beetle across the Atlantic, making VW America’s first import darling.” Now, however, having made a commitment to remedy management and production problems that plagued its first American factory, VW is beginning again in the United States. Its target for US sales is more than a million vehicles per year by 2018, within which time frame the company wants to command a US market share of 6%. (“VW Opens Tennessee Plant with New Focus on Quality,” 3 rd June).

spare for the host country was devoted to his company’s plans to move production of the Mercedes C-Class for the North American market to its facility in Alabama in 2014. He also mentioned the opening of a new dealership on the West Side of Manhattan, the only company-owned Mercedes location in the United States. ❖ ❖ An announcement of Daimler’s joint venture with Aston Martin to revive the moribund Maybach nameplate could be expected within the month, Dr Zetsche told the roomful of journalists in June. Otherwise, Mr Schultz reported, everything said by the Daimler chairman was to do with emerging markets. While buyers for a low- volume luxury limo might come from the West, Dr Z made plain his expectation that the customers who will support Mercedes “for another 125 years” would be sought and found in the East. Volkswagen, having regained some ground in the US, raises its goal: sales of more than a million vehicles per year by 2018 If the misbegotten DaimlerChrysler merger and breakup have left Daimler AG with a jaundiced view of the United States, another important German car maker has no such qualms. Volkswagen intends to rebuild its brand in the US

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Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2011