Volkswagen Selects Head of Chattanooga Plant

Frank Fischer, 46, has been appointed head of the project team and plant manager for the new Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga.

Fischer has been the plant manager at Brunswick (Braunschweig), Germany since March 2005.

"Frank is an excellent choice to lead our new project in Chattanooga, and I welcome him back to the United States, said Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO Volkswagen Group of America. "We continue to make progress on our aggressive start of production timeline and Frank's appointment is another important step in that process."

Fischer holds engineering degrees from RWTH Aachen and the University of Washington in Seattle. He joined the Volkswagen Group in 1991, first sharing responsibility for strategic issues and competition comparisons before becoming head of body construction at the Wolfsburg plant. He subsequently moved to Emden as production manager in 2001.

The Brunswick plant employs about 5,700 employees compared to the 2,000 that are expected to be employed in Chattanooga.

Brunswick is the site of the very first Volkswagen plant built seventy years ago. Volkswagen officials say that today, the plant stands for highly-developed technical know-how and is one of the world's largest leading chassis components manufacturers.