Volkswagen will have engine and transmission assembly plants in North America to support a new vehicle assembly plant the automaker is expected to build in North Carolina.
The assembly plant could be operational in 2010.
" We'll make an announcement within six months" about the location of the plant, Stefan Jacoby, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America Inc., told the Automotive News World Congress today. After that announcement, the first vehicles could appear in " a little bit more than three years," he said.
Jacoby said the engine and transmission plants do not have to be near the assembly plant, saying Mexico and Canada are options. But " if we don't localize the plants" in North America, he said, " we can't be competitive."
Generally speaking, an engine and transmission account for about one-third of a vehicle's cost.