VW Plans $1 Billion Expansion in Mexico

Volkswagen AG will invest about $1 billion to prepare its factory complex in Puebla, Mexico, to make a three-row version of its Tiguan crossover vehicle beginning late next year.

The program will add more assembly lines, a new body shop, nearly 970,000 sq ft of floorspace and about 2,000 jobs. The investment also includes tooling for local suppliers.

VW says the Puebla plant will be able to make about 500 Tiguans per day for the Americas and other world markets outside Europe and China.

Sales in the U.S. will begin in the second quarter of 2017, shortly after VW debuts the larger crossover it is preparing to build at its factory in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Puebla complex currently makes the Golf hatchback. It and the Tiguan share the same version of VW's "MQB" (modular transverse matrix) platform.