Spanning 64,000 square feet, the facility of the company will be Volkswagen Group’ first-of-its-kind research and development centre in North America. Scheduled to be fully operational by late 2012, the new facility will primarily focus on power train and systems development, governmental compliance and field quality testing.
The advanced development centre will accommodate an emissions test laboratory, parts analysis capabilities space, a vehicle workshop featuring more than 16 in-ground lifts, and a dealer service and training centre. The new centre will also house extensive office and meeting space for approximately 50 TCC team members and more than 250 Volkswagen Group engineers.
The facility will have a solar power generation system, which will feature 2, 500, 430kW solar panels that will offset almost 33% of the power requirements of the entire facility. The solar power system is one among several energy-efficient technologies that have been incorporated into the building, based on which it is undergoing evaluation for LEED certification.
The project has added 25,000 square feet space to the existing facility and boasts potential for future expansions of up to 14,000 square feet. It will support several Volkswagen Group brands including Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Bentley, and Bugatti.
