Senator Tours Volkswagen Site

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) toured the future home of Volkswagen at the Enterprise South Industrial Park in Chattanooga today and predicted that "thousands of new auto supply jobs will follow the 2,000 new jobs planned for the new assembly plant."

"That has been Tennessee's experience over the last thirty years," said Alexander, who was governor when the Nissan and GM-Saturn assembly plants brought the auto industry to Tennessee for the first time. "The GM-Saturn and Nissan plants employ over 10,000 people, but have been the magnet to attract more than 125,000 auto-related jobs to Tennessee. The Chattanooga area should look forward to the same."

Alexander was joined by Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield, Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey, Hayes Ledford of the Chattanooga Chamber, and Scott Cooper of the Tennessee Department of Economic Development on today's tour.

Volkswagen Group of America announced in mid-July that Chattanooga would be the new site of an auto assembly plant, beating out several other American cities for the honor, which will bring approximately 2,000 new jobs to the area and $1 billion investment to the economy. The new facility will be located in the Enterprise South Industrial Park, conveniently located to downtown Chattanooga and adjacent to Interstate 75. The 1,350-acre site is co-owned by Hamilton County and the city of Chattanooga, with production on the site slated to begin in early 2011.

"Senator Corker, Governor Bredesen, Mayors Ramsey and Littlefield, the Chamber of Commerce and many others have worked hard to make this happen," Alexander said. "Their work will continue to pay off as the Chattanooga area sees improvements across the board for years to come. The arrival of the auto industry in Tennessee has transformed our lives. Today one-third of Tennessee's manufacturing jobs are auto jobs."

Alexander said that in 2007, 32.8 percent of Tennessee manufacturing jobs were related to the automotive industry, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Thirty years ago, he said, Tennessee had almost no auto jobs.

Alexander noted that millions of dollars in federal investments joined state and local government dollars in helping make Enterprise South an attractive site for Volkswagen, including:

· $17.2 million for construction of a connector road from I-75 interchange across Enterprise South Industrial Park to Highway 58.

· $200,000 for the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth at Enterprise South Industrial Park.

· $1 million for SR-317 to provide a connection between Enterprise South Industrial Park Interchange on I-75 and Collegedale in Hamilton County.

Alexander said the success of other auto companies in Tennessee , such as Saturn and Nissan - which recently celebrated the dedication of Nissan Americas, a $100 million investment in Franklin, Tenn. - proves that Volkswage's own investment in the Enterprise South area will be felt by the surrounding community for years to come.

"Before the auto industry came to the state, Tennessee was the fourth poorest state, with only Arkansas, Maine and Mississippi below us," Alexander said. "Most of the auto industry was in the Midwest - Tennessee had almost no auto jobs. Then Saturn and Nissan came. Then hundreds of suppliers came. Then nine more assembly plants throughout the Southeast.

Volkswagen's decision to come to Chattanooga keeps Tennessee on the road to becoming the No. 1 state in auto supply jobs and puts the South further down the path towards becoming the new center for the American automobile industry."

Alexander said that in 2006, Tennessee ranked fourth in a list of automotive manufacturing jobs by state with 54,000 employees and 5.1 percent of the auto manufacturing jobs nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.