Herbert Diess, the CEO of automobile giant Volkswagen had a talk with the president of the United States, Donald Trump on the last Tuesday. After the meeting he has announced that the company has several options before it owing to which it can increase the production capacity in the U.S. He has said that potential options before the company in order to increase the production in the American territory includes partnering up with another automotive giant Ford. In a strategic partnership with Ford, the company will be using the manufacturing facilities of Blue Oval in the US for building up the cars.
Both the companies had announced their alliance in the month of June. Further course of action over the alliance had been progressing steadily since the announcement made by the companies. Both the companies seem to be optimistic about the progression of the alliance as joint talks are being held on regular intervals. It has been reported that no specific milestones are yet set as a part of alliance. It is expected that till the month of January, some significant steps will be taken by both the companies for the future course of action.
Diess also said that another option of opening a separate manufacturing facility in the US was also on the table. Building this facility would be an addition for the company’s existing manufacturing plant in Chattanooga. The German manufacturer currently produces Atlas and Passat in this plant. Considering the closure of the manufacturing facilities by American Manufacturer General Motors, it is also possible that Volkswagen may acquire one amongst those plants as it would give the company an advantage of already existing workforce at the local level. He also noted that the company also considered a third option, which was to raise the production capacity in the Tennessee plant.