Word: wolfsburg
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Volkswagen's sprawling headquarters in Wolfsburg, Chairman Toni Schmücker and his top aides are pondering a major question: Should the West German automaker build a second plant in the U.S.? A final decision is expected by year's end, and the early signs point toward a definite ja. A team of Volkswagen experts is already studying possible sites; the new plant would be an assembly operation that would put together the popular, front-wheel drive Rabbits and would probably be on the West Coast...
...stimulating employment in auto-related industries. Already, says Plant Manager Richard Cummins, VW is doing business with some 1,800 Pennsylvania firms. If all goes as planned, VW will be assembling its U.S. Rabbits mostly from U.S.-made parts by next year, with only engines and transmissions coming from Wolfsburg, West Germany. In economically depressed Lewistown, Pa., for example, C.H. Masland, a U.S. company, is building a plant to supply carpeting for Rabbits; it will employ 200 people...
...hired about 1,000 workers. Most live within 35 miles of New Stanton, but some with special skills have come from Ohio and New York. For management talent, VW turned to Wolfsburg and Detroit. To run the Volkswagen Manufacturing Corp. of America, VW raided General Motors and got lanky James McLernon. Despite seven years of service as Chevrolet's general manufacturing manager, he was passed over for a vice presidency and was ripe for plucking. He left GM with some misgivings: "It was a tough decision to make." But VW's lure was a reported $1 million, five...
Last week, more than 19 million Beetles later, workers at the Volkswagen museum in Wolfsburg were busy enshrining the last Bug to be produced in West Germany. Some 300,000 Beetles a year will still be made in Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, mostly for local use. And the familiar shape will not fade very soon elsewhere. The company claims that well over half of the Beetles built are still on the roads around the world, including nearly 4 million...
...casualties was Rudolf Leiding, 60, who resigned as president last month. The company gave poor health as the reason, but by all appearances, Leiding's main problems were bad luck in sales and some brusque boardroom politics. When he took over the top job at Volkswagen's Wolfsburg headquarters in 1971, Leiding recognized that the basic Beetle, essentially a 1937 design, was steadily losing consumer appeal, and he moved quickly to develop new models to replace it. Unfortunately, the oil crisis and the subsequent economic slowdown hit just as Leiding was rolling out his new cars. Caught...