Dive Brief:
- Volkswagen Group of America has appointed Henning Habicht as the new head of its Chattanooga factory, the company’s 3.8 million square foot assembly plant in Tennessee, according to a press release.
- Habicht will transition into the role beginning in December, taking the reins from Chris Glover, who led manufacturing at the facility for the past three years. Glover will retire at the end of January after a nearly 40-year career at Volkswagen.
- “Henning’s extensive leadership background in global Volkswagen production facilities will greatly benefit our objectives at the plant and also build upon our deep commitment to the city of Chattanooga, " Chris Vollmer, VW board member responsible for production and logistics, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Habicht previously served as the head of manufacturing at the plant, overseeing the assembly of the Volkswagen Atlas, Atlas Cross Sport, and electric ID.4.
Habicht has served in various leadership roles at the automaker, including head of manufacturing at the Volkswagen SAIC joint venture plant in Shanghai, China, and as the head of manufacturing at Wolfsburg’s Plant 1 in Germany, which VW says is the world’s largest single car manufacturing complex. The executive has been at Volkswagen for 15 years.
His appointment comes as VW transitions its global manufacturing facilities to produce electric vehicles. Habicht will lead the plant’s transformation, which also includes ramping up production capacity for other models.
“We’re committed to maximizing production of several of Volkswagen’s best-selling vehicles in the Atlas, Atlas Cross Sport, and ID.4, as well as supporting the economic vitality of the incredible city of Chattanooga,” Habicht said in the release.
Assembly of the ID.4 in Tennessee began in mid-2022 at Chattanooga, and other fully electric models will be launched in the U.S. in the upcoming years, including new SUV models from 2026. Volkswagen says it will invest more than 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in the electrification and digitalization of its products in the North American region through 2027.
VW began vehicle production at its Chattanooga factory in 2011. In 2019, the company broke ground on a project to prepare the plant to produce EVs.
