Volkswagen Plans Design Facility in Simi Valley
Volkswagen of America Inc. plans to open its first American auto design center in Simi Valley, a VW spokesman said Wednesday.
Pat Fitzgerald, a spokesman at the company’s headquarters in Troy, Mich., said the company already has signed a lease for property in the Simi Valley Business Center on the city’s west side.
But he declined further comment, saying details were being withheld until a formal announcement Monday.
The company, a unit of Volkswagen AG of West Germany, would join General Motors Corp. and major Japanese auto makers such as Toyota and Honda in establishing design centers in California. Another West German car maker, Mercedes-Benz, has also announced plans to open a design facility in the state.
“Most industries believe that California is a trend-setting market” and therefore “a good place to sit back and watch just what’s happening in the marketplace,” said Chris Cedergren, an analyst with the auto marketing research firm of J. D. Power & Associates in Agoura Hills.
VW’s U.S. sales this year are flat. The company sold 80,200 vehicles through July this year, compared to 80,344 a year ago, according to J. D. Power. VW’s Audi division sold 12,645 vehicles through July, up slightly from 11,970 a year earlier.
