Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly Plant
Encyclopedia
The Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly Plant
is a manufacturing plant formerly operated by Volkswagen of America (VWoA), 35 miles (56.3 km) south of Pittsburgh
in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
near New Stanton
. The complex manufactured 1.15 million vehicles from 1978 to 1988. When VWoA began manufacturing at what had been an unfinished Chrysler
plant, it became the first foreign automobile company to build cars in the United States since Rolls-Royce
manufactured cars in Springfield, Massachusetts from 1921 to 1931.
Chrysler had called the facility the New Stanton plant; Volkswagen changed the name to simply Westmoreland.
The factory manufactured a range of fuel-efficient small cars with gasoline or diesel engines, all variants (or rebadged models) of Volkswagen's Golf
: the Rabbit
(79–84); Rabbit GTI (83–84); Rabbit Pickup (1979–1982); the Golf Mk2 and GTI (85–89) and the Jetta
(87–89). Built with the largest incentive package the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had ever offered, the factory had an estimated annual capacity of 240,000 cars and reached production of 200,000 in 1980. Engines and drivetrains for Westmoreland production were sourced from Germany. Employment, projected at 20,000, reached its highest level in mid-1981 at 6,000 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=H2QuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CtoFAAAAIBAJ&dq=national%20debate%20pittsburgh&pg=1627%2C2728228 and by 1984 had dropped to 1,500.
Initially, the plant was highly successful, but numerous factors contributed to a sharp decline in sales of the cars manufactured at Westmoreland and the factory's ultimate demise: increased competition in the North American small car market, easing of the period's fuel crisis
, poorly received changes to the character of the cars, VWoA's long product life-cycle, the internal economics of the plant itself, persistant labor unrest at the plant and poor networking between Westmoreland and Volkswagen headquarters in Germany. The factory operated at less than half its design capacity and VWoA suffered operating losses during the last five years of its operation. Sales of Volkswagen's U.S.-built cars plummeted by nearly 60 percent between 1980 and 1985.
Japanese manufacturers soon followed VWoA's unionized plant into production in the U.S. – achieving success at non-unionized plants including Honda at their Marysville, Ohio, plant
and Toyota at their Georgetown, Kentucky, plant
.
By the early 1980's, Volkswagen began retreating from manufacture in North America, selling another assembly plant it had begun developing and two ancillary plants to Westmoreland in West Virginia and Texas. With the plant operating at 40 percent capacity and annual losses of $120 million, Volkswagen officially closed Westmoreland Assembly on July 14, 1988.
The Westmoreland plant was subsequently used by Sony
in the production of televisions from 1990-2008 and as of 2010, sits idle. Volkswagen later expanded production of cars in Puebla, Mexico and in 2011 inaugurated its Chattanooga Assembly Plant
.
Prior to development of Westmoreland Assembly, Volkswagen of America was headed by James W. (Jim) McLernon
, a former Chevrolet
manufacturing chief. Toni Schmücker
, VW management board Chairman, selected McLernon to investigate feasibility of U.S. production, in part to help the company avoid international currency fluctuations and high German wages.
After investigating five sites and narrowing the field to two alternate sites, a former Westinghouse appliance factory in Columbus, Ohio, and a federal tank plant in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park, VWoA signed a thirty year lease on Chrysler's unfinished New Stanton plant originally constructed in 1969 on 1200 acres (5 km²) at Route 119 in East Huntingdon Township – just outside New Stanton, Pennsylvania
.
At Westmoreland, Volkwagen developed three major buildings, two minor buildings, and a waste water treatment system. Richard S. Cummins, the plant manager, described the inside of the largest unfinished building with 2.1 million sf, as a "three-dimensional chess-board covering an area of over 37 football fields." Land had to re-shaped for a new railway spur, and underground holding tanks constructed for the various fluids to be pumped into the building. The complex included several two-story buildings: an administration building, a building with worker facilities and a metallurgy, plastic, rubber, and electrical testing lab, a building with a paint lab as well as durability and emissions testing as well as a railway yard.
VWoA purchased the site with a $40 million loan from the state of Pennsylvania and then invested about $250 million to ready the factory for assembly. In the richest corporate deal to date in Pennsylvania history, state and local officials offered VWoA an incentive package worth nearly $100 million in government assistance, highway and rail improvements and a property-tax exemption.
VW subsequently purchased an American Motors
stamping plant in South Charleston, West Virginia
, investing further to make the factory capable of producing exterior sheet metal stampings for Westmoreland and then purchased a small plant in Fort Worth, Texas for manufacture of the air-conditioning and heating systems and plastic-trim to facilitate integration of factory installed air-conditioning in the Westmoreland-manufactured cars. VWoA would later purchase a former Chrysler missile plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan
to begin developing its second North American assembly plant.
On April 10, 1978, VWoA dedicated Westmoreland Assembly by driving its first car off the line, a two-door white Rabbit (in Rabbit C or mid trim level, as with all the initial production) — which had actually been assembled the week before and was shipped after the plant dedication to Volkswagen's Wolfsburg headquarters for its museum. Toni Schmücker
, Richard E Dauch
, James McLernon
, U.S. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal, Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp
and 1,200 employees were on hand the day the first car came of the line. In his remarks, Schmücker, CEO of Volkswagen AG, paraphrased Neil Armstrong
remarks when stepping onto the moon, saying "this may be one small step for America, but it is a giant step for Volkswagen."
According to Richard Dauch
, who was general manufacturing manager for Volkswagen Manufacturing of America from 1976 to 1978, "within 18 months, from 1976 until April 10, 1978, we had production, excellent quality with no product recalls, over 1,000 (completed cars) a day within two months of launch, two-door, four-door, diesel, K-Jetronic (fuel injection), 10 different body colors, four different interiors. And in that period, every single goal set by the board of directors was met or exceeded, we launched on time and early. We were staying within budgets. We were actually making profits." As of 1979, Volkswagen was "extremely pleased with the quality and productivity" of Westmoreland Assembly.
said "inside is where you really see the Americanization of the Rabbit, the interior is comfortable but puffy. In fact, it's downright tacky" – adding that the side marker lights on the Rabbit looked as if they "came off a kids bike." USAToday, in 2010 described the Americanization of the Rabbit from Westmoreland: "Malibu-ing the Rabbit was the dismissive comment at the time, a reference to a soft-riding Chevy model unloved by fans of German makes." By 1983 Westmoreland went back to using stiffer shocks and suspension with higher-quality interior trim.
Management at Volkswagen of America was also described as having become Americanized and having struggled with advertising for Westmoreland's main product, the Rabbit. In his 2002 book Getting the Bugs Out: the Rise, Fall, and Comeback of Volkswagen in America, David said "German character was fading into oblivion."
ranked the VWoA Westmoreland vehicles in 1977-79 had "worse than average maintenance record, including an oil burning problem." An analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert
said in 1987 "the quality of the cars built in Pennsylvania wasn't up to the quality of the cars in Germany." An analyst for Global Insight
, John Wolkonowicz, said the Rabbit was "probably the most troublesome Volkswagen ever built."
The plant was organized by the United Auto Workers
; a 1992 New York Times article described it as the only "transplant" factory, meaning a factory by a foreign autmotive company in the United States, that the UAW had succeeded in representing, and that the plant "began with a strike and lurched from problem to problem before closing"
From the outset, minorities picketed the site, seeking fair treatment in the hiring process and by its first twenty months of operation, workers had staged six walkouts.
On October 13, 1978, six months after the plant opened, UAW workers staged a wildcat strike at Westmoreland for salaries equal to those received by General Motors Corporation employees. Picketing workers chanted "No Money, No Bunny." In 1981, Westmoreland Assembly avoided a strike when it reached agreement with the UAW over essentially the same issue: the disparity between wages earned at Westmoreland, where assemblers made an average of $10.76 per hour, and those at domestic auto plants in Detroit, where at GM and Ford, for example, assemblers made an average of $11.42 per hour.
Volkswagen settled a 1983 discrimination suit with the United Auto Workers
to settle claims that they discriminated against black employees at Westmoreland Assembly. Plaintiffs had sought $70 million when filing suit, charging that management had initiated or tolerated "a pattern and practice" of limited hirings and promotions of blacks, that blacks were also subject to arbitrary firings and demotions and that the company openly allowed racial insults and threats in the workplace. Volkswagen of America Inc. denied the charges and later settled the case in 1989, paying 800 plaintiffs $670,000 and the United Auto Workers $48,000. The most prominent black executive at the Westmoreland factory and spokesman for the "VW Black Caucus" committed suicide, bringing further notoriety to the suit.
had earlier reported that Chrysler would take over VWoA's assembly operations.
VWoA built the last Rabbit model at Westmoreland on June 15, 1984, a white, two-door, fuel-injected, five-speed manual transmission Wolfsburg
Edition Rabbit, before spending about $200 million to retool the plant for the slightly larger and more powerful second generation Golf model. Tim Moran, writing for Automotive News
in 2005 said the styling of the main product became too old, the fuel crisis had eased, Wolfsburg was too slow to adapt to changing conditions and costs became too high.
In September 1982, VWoA President Jim McLernon resigned amid widening losses. In 1983 VWoA sold its Sterling Heights, Michigan plant back to Chrysler, the same former Chrysler missile plant it had previously purchased to develop as its second North American assembly plant. Subsequently, VWoA sold the former American Motors
stamping plant in South Charleston, West Virginia
and its air-conditioning and plastic-trim plant in Texas to Valeo SA
. Over the Thanksgiving weekend in 1987, Volkswagen announced it would close Westmoreland Assembly and on July 14, 1988, VWoA closed the plant.
of Changchun, China. Unverified reports suggest the actual stamping dies for the Rabbit and Rabbit Pickup may have been used to start Volkswagen Caddy
and Citi Golf production in South Africa. VWoA sold the facility itself to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the factory remained dormant for several years.
In 1990, Sony
announced it would begin manufacturing television
s at the site. The facility employed more than 3,000 people in the late 1990s, however that number dwindled to just 250 in 2007. On December 9, 2008, Ed Rendell
, Governor of Pennsylvania, announced that Sony planned to close the facility.
Automotive News
reported in 2005, that the Corporation for Enterprise Development
, a Washington economic think tank, estimated that "taxpayers were left with more than $70 million in incentives and loans used to lure (Westmoreland Assembly), whose promise never fully materialized."
As of 2010, the 2000000 square feet (185,806.1 m²) plant remains idle, the largest block of commercial space available in Western Pennsylvania.
In 1988, Volkswagen spent $1 billion to expand operations in Puebla, Mexico, to build Golfs and Jettas. Twenty-three years after closing Westmoreland, Volkswagen inaugurated its new Chattanooga Assembly Plant
in a "right-to-work" state, one of 22 in the United States that give workers the choice to join or not to join the dominant labor union on the premises — and with an estimated $577 million in incentives.
Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly Plant
The Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly Plant is a manufacturing plant formerly operated by Volkswagen of America , south of Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania near New Stanton. The complex manufactured 1.15 million vehicles from 1978 to 1988...
is a manufacturing plant formerly operated by Volkswagen of America (VWoA), 35 miles (56.3 km) south of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 369,993 people, 149,813 households, and 104,569 families residing in the county. The population density was 361 people per square mile . There were 161,058 housing units at an average density of 157 per square mile...
near New Stanton
New Stanton, Pennsylvania
New Stanton is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,906 at the 2000 census. New Stanton is often used as a control city in western parts of Pennsylvania, as I-70 joins the Pennsylvania Turnpike eastbound towards Breezewood, Pennsylvania in New...
. The complex manufactured 1.15 million vehicles from 1978 to 1988. When VWoA began manufacturing at what had been an unfinished Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
plant, it became the first foreign automobile company to build cars in the United States since Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
manufactured cars in Springfield, Massachusetts from 1921 to 1931.
Chrysler had called the facility the New Stanton plant; Volkswagen changed the name to simply Westmoreland.
The factory manufactured a range of fuel-efficient small cars with gasoline or diesel engines, all variants (or rebadged models) of Volkswagen's Golf
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is a small family car manufactured by Volkswagen since 1974 and marketed worldwide across six generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates – as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada , and as the Volkswagen Caribe in Mexico .The...
: the Rabbit
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is a small family car manufactured by Volkswagen since 1974 and marketed worldwide across six generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates – as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada , and as the Volkswagen Caribe in Mexico .The...
(79–84); Rabbit GTI (83–84); Rabbit Pickup (1979–1982); the Golf Mk2 and GTI (85–89) and the Jetta
Volkswagen Jetta
Although the Golf had reached considerable success, in the North American markets, Volkswagen observed that the hatchback body style lacked some of the appeal to those who preferred the traditional three-box configuration...
(87–89). Built with the largest incentive package the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had ever offered, the factory had an estimated annual capacity of 240,000 cars and reached production of 200,000 in 1980. Engines and drivetrains for Westmoreland production were sourced from Germany. Employment, projected at 20,000, reached its highest level in mid-1981 at 6,000 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=H2QuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CtoFAAAAIBAJ&dq=national%20debate%20pittsburgh&pg=1627%2C2728228 and by 1984 had dropped to 1,500.
Initially, the plant was highly successful, but numerous factors contributed to a sharp decline in sales of the cars manufactured at Westmoreland and the factory's ultimate demise: increased competition in the North American small car market, easing of the period's fuel crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
, poorly received changes to the character of the cars, VWoA's long product life-cycle, the internal economics of the plant itself, persistant labor unrest at the plant and poor networking between Westmoreland and Volkswagen headquarters in Germany. The factory operated at less than half its design capacity and VWoA suffered operating losses during the last five years of its operation. Sales of Volkswagen's U.S.-built cars plummeted by nearly 60 percent between 1980 and 1985.
Japanese manufacturers soon followed VWoA's unionized plant into production in the U.S. – achieving success at non-unionized plants including Honda at their Marysville, Ohio, plant
Marysville Auto Plant
Marysville Auto Plant is a Honda manufacturing facility located approximately six miles northwest of Marysville, Ohio. Operations include stamping, plastics injection molding, welding, painting, subassembly and assembly. The assembly plant opened in 1982...
and Toyota at their Georgetown, Kentucky, plant
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Inc. is an automobile manufacturing factory in Georgetown, Kentucky, USA. It is part of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America , owned by Toyota Motor Company of Japan....
.
By the early 1980's, Volkswagen began retreating from manufacture in North America, selling another assembly plant it had begun developing and two ancillary plants to Westmoreland in West Virginia and Texas. With the plant operating at 40 percent capacity and annual losses of $120 million, Volkswagen officially closed Westmoreland Assembly on July 14, 1988.
The Westmoreland plant was subsequently used by Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
in the production of televisions from 1990-2008 and as of 2010, sits idle. Volkswagen later expanded production of cars in Puebla, Mexico and in 2011 inaugurated its Chattanooga Assembly Plant
Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant
Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant is an automobile assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee that began production in April 2011, was formally inaugurated in May 2011 and is expected to employ approximately 2,000 once fully operational...
.
Beginnings
James McLernon
James W. McLernon is a retired automobile company executive who worked for Chevrolet while at General Motors as an engineer. In 1976, He became the first president of manufacturing at Volkswagen of America, the U.S. division of Volkswagen AG...
, a former Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
manufacturing chief. Toni Schmücker
Toni Schmucker
Toni Schmücker was the fourth chief executive officer of the Volkswagen automobile company , following the handover of the company in 1948 to German control from the British, who had administered the VW factory in Wolfsburg, Germany after the Second World War ended.Schmücker's automotive experience...
, VW management board Chairman, selected McLernon to investigate feasibility of U.S. production, in part to help the company avoid international currency fluctuations and high German wages.
After investigating five sites and narrowing the field to two alternate sites, a former Westinghouse appliance factory in Columbus, Ohio, and a federal tank plant in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park, VWoA signed a thirty year lease on Chrysler's unfinished New Stanton plant originally constructed in 1969 on 1200 acres (5 km²) at Route 119 in East Huntingdon Township – just outside New Stanton, Pennsylvania
New Stanton, Pennsylvania
New Stanton is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,906 at the 2000 census. New Stanton is often used as a control city in western parts of Pennsylvania, as I-70 joins the Pennsylvania Turnpike eastbound towards Breezewood, Pennsylvania in New...
.
At Westmoreland, Volkwagen developed three major buildings, two minor buildings, and a waste water treatment system. Richard S. Cummins, the plant manager, described the inside of the largest unfinished building with 2.1 million sf, as a "three-dimensional chess-board covering an area of over 37 football fields." Land had to re-shaped for a new railway spur, and underground holding tanks constructed for the various fluids to be pumped into the building. The complex included several two-story buildings: an administration building, a building with worker facilities and a metallurgy, plastic, rubber, and electrical testing lab, a building with a paint lab as well as durability and emissions testing as well as a railway yard.
VWoA purchased the site with a $40 million loan from the state of Pennsylvania and then invested about $250 million to ready the factory for assembly. In the richest corporate deal to date in Pennsylvania history, state and local officials offered VWoA an incentive package worth nearly $100 million in government assistance, highway and rail improvements and a property-tax exemption.
VW subsequently purchased an American Motors
American Motors
American Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W...
stamping plant in South Charleston, West Virginia
South Charleston, West Virginia
South Charleston is a city in Kanawha County, West Virginia, U.S. The population was 13,450 at the 2010 census. South Charleston was established in 1906, but not incorporated until 1919 by special charter enacted by the West Virginia Legislature...
, investing further to make the factory capable of producing exterior sheet metal stampings for Westmoreland and then purchased a small plant in Fort Worth, Texas for manufacture of the air-conditioning and heating systems and plastic-trim to facilitate integration of factory installed air-conditioning in the Westmoreland-manufactured cars. VWoA would later purchase a former Chrysler missile plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan
Sterling Heights, Michigan
Sterling Heights is a city in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan, and one of Detroit's core suburbs. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 129,699...
to begin developing its second North American assembly plant.
On April 10, 1978, VWoA dedicated Westmoreland Assembly by driving its first car off the line, a two-door white Rabbit (in Rabbit C or mid trim level, as with all the initial production) — which had actually been assembled the week before and was shipped after the plant dedication to Volkswagen's Wolfsburg headquarters for its museum. Toni Schmücker
Toni Schmucker
Toni Schmücker was the fourth chief executive officer of the Volkswagen automobile company , following the handover of the company in 1948 to German control from the British, who had administered the VW factory in Wolfsburg, Germany after the Second World War ended.Schmücker's automotive experience...
, Richard E Dauch
Richard E Dauch
Richard E. "Dick" Dauch is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of American Axle and Manufacturing. Previously, Dauch served as a manufacturing manager at Chevrolet, Chrysler and at Volkswagen's Westmoreland Assembly Plant.-Background:...
, James McLernon
James McLernon
James W. McLernon is a retired automobile company executive who worked for Chevrolet while at General Motors as an engineer. In 1976, He became the first president of manufacturing at Volkswagen of America, the U.S. division of Volkswagen AG...
, U.S. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal, Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp
Milton Shapp
Milton Jerrold Shapp was the 40th Governor of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979 and was the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania.- Early life :...
and 1,200 employees were on hand the day the first car came of the line. In his remarks, Schmücker, CEO of Volkswagen AG, paraphrased Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
remarks when stepping onto the moon, saying "this may be one small step for America, but it is a giant step for Volkswagen."
According to Richard Dauch
Richard E Dauch
Richard E. "Dick" Dauch is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of American Axle and Manufacturing. Previously, Dauch served as a manufacturing manager at Chevrolet, Chrysler and at Volkswagen's Westmoreland Assembly Plant.-Background:...
, who was general manufacturing manager for Volkswagen Manufacturing of America from 1976 to 1978, "within 18 months, from 1976 until April 10, 1978, we had production, excellent quality with no product recalls, over 1,000 (completed cars) a day within two months of launch, two-door, four-door, diesel, K-Jetronic (fuel injection), 10 different body colors, four different interiors. And in that period, every single goal set by the board of directors was met or exceeded, we launched on time and early. We were staying within budgets. We were actually making profits." As of 1979, Volkswagen was "extremely pleased with the quality and productivity" of Westmoreland Assembly.
Problems
Prior to manufacturing the first car, VWoA conceded that Westmoreland "was a gamble in 'a problem market' marked by sluggish sales and intense competition from other small car makers." Changes to the cars' Germanic character were not well-received; problems surfaced with the plant's economics as well as vehicle quality; and finally, Westmoreland was beset with labor problems.Americanization
Neither buyers nor company executives in Germany were pleased with the Americanization of the Rabbit using a softer suspension, less expensive interior materials and decidedly un-Germanic color-keyed interiors. Popular MechanicsPopular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics is an American magazine first published January 11, 1902 by H. H. Windsor, and has been owned since 1958 by the Hearst Corporation...
said "inside is where you really see the Americanization of the Rabbit, the interior is comfortable but puffy. In fact, it's downright tacky" – adding that the side marker lights on the Rabbit looked as if they "came off a kids bike." USAToday, in 2010 described the Americanization of the Rabbit from Westmoreland: "Malibu-ing the Rabbit was the dismissive comment at the time, a reference to a soft-riding Chevy model unloved by fans of German makes." By 1983 Westmoreland went back to using stiffer shocks and suspension with higher-quality interior trim.
Management at Volkswagen of America was also described as having become Americanized and having struggled with advertising for Westmoreland's main product, the Rabbit. In his 2002 book Getting the Bugs Out: the Rise, Fall, and Comeback of Volkswagen in America, David said "German character was fading into oblivion."
Plant Economics
In some respects, the Westmoreland plant was "virtually outdated by the day it opened." A similar plant opened at the same time by Chrysler had far more automation and could produce half again as many cars as Westmoreland. VWoA's plant had to run at 85% of capacity to break even, rather than the projected 50% — which proved detrimental when Rabbit sales fell and VWoA had to begin offering rebates on a stock of unsold cars. The West Virginia stamping plant arrangement proved problematic; the plant wasn't automated, was four hours from Westmoreland and body panels had to be shipped between the two sites. At times, crucial parts were rushed to Westmoreland by helicopter or Lear jet to avoid a shutdown.Quality
Consumers UnionConsumers Union
Consumers Union is a non-profit organization best known as the publisher of Consumer Reports, based in the United States. Its mission is to "test products, inform the public, and protect consumers."...
ranked the VWoA Westmoreland vehicles in 1977-79 had "worse than average maintenance record, including an oil burning problem." An analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel Burnham Lambert was a major Wall Street investment banking firm, which first rose to prominence and then was forced into bankruptcy in February 1990 by its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by Drexel employee Michael Milken. At its height, it was the...
said in 1987 "the quality of the cars built in Pennsylvania wasn't up to the quality of the cars in Germany." An analyst for Global Insight
Global Insight
Global Insight is the world's largest economics organization, serving over 3,800 clients in industry, finance and government worldwide, with revenues of over $95 million and employing more than 600 economists and other staff in 23 offices in 13 countries...
, John Wolkonowicz, said the Rabbit was "probably the most troublesome Volkswagen ever built."
Labor unrest
For the assembly line, Volkswagen did not develop its own skill base for Westmoreland, instead bringing in workers from Detroit. 100 workers were brought in from Great Britain. A field of 40,000 applied for jobs at Westmoreland. No more than 20% of the workers had ever worked for an automobile manufacturer, and the average age of workers was 24-26, at the time considered a demographic considered "independent and militant." VWoA chose employees not by skills, but by how long they had been unemployed.The plant was organized by the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
; a 1992 New York Times article described it as the only "transplant" factory, meaning a factory by a foreign autmotive company in the United States, that the UAW had succeeded in representing, and that the plant "began with a strike and lurched from problem to problem before closing"
From the outset, minorities picketed the site, seeking fair treatment in the hiring process and by its first twenty months of operation, workers had staged six walkouts.
On October 13, 1978, six months after the plant opened, UAW workers staged a wildcat strike at Westmoreland for salaries equal to those received by General Motors Corporation employees. Picketing workers chanted "No Money, No Bunny." In 1981, Westmoreland Assembly avoided a strike when it reached agreement with the UAW over essentially the same issue: the disparity between wages earned at Westmoreland, where assemblers made an average of $10.76 per hour, and those at domestic auto plants in Detroit, where at GM and Ford, for example, assemblers made an average of $11.42 per hour.
Volkswagen settled a 1983 discrimination suit with the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
to settle claims that they discriminated against black employees at Westmoreland Assembly. Plaintiffs had sought $70 million when filing suit, charging that management had initiated or tolerated "a pattern and practice" of limited hirings and promotions of blacks, that blacks were also subject to arbitrary firings and demotions and that the company openly allowed racial insults and threats in the workplace. Volkswagen of America Inc. denied the charges and later settled the case in 1989, paying 800 plaintiffs $670,000 and the United Auto Workers $48,000. The most prominent black executive at the Westmoreland factory and spokesman for the "VW Black Caucus" committed suicide, bringing further notoriety to the suit.
Demise
Sales of the VWoA models built at Westmoreland dipped "as gas prices fell and consumer preference shifted to larger models," dropping by nearly 60 percent between 1980 and 1985 VW dealer defections became common. In 1983, Volkswagen and Chrysler entered discussions about joint-venturing at Westmoreland. The Detroit Free PressDetroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
had earlier reported that Chrysler would take over VWoA's assembly operations.
VWoA built the last Rabbit model at Westmoreland on June 15, 1984, a white, two-door, fuel-injected, five-speed manual transmission Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the River Aller northeast of Braunschweig , and is mainly notable as the headquarters of Volkswagen AG...
Edition Rabbit, before spending about $200 million to retool the plant for the slightly larger and more powerful second generation Golf model. Tim Moran, writing for Automotive News
Automotive News
Automotive News is a weekly newspaper written for 65,000 automotive retailers, suppliers and manufacturers. It is based in Detroit and owned by Crain Communications Inc. The brand has a team of more than 50 editors and reporters worldwide.- History :...
in 2005 said the styling of the main product became too old, the fuel crisis had eased, Wolfsburg was too slow to adapt to changing conditions and costs became too high.
In September 1982, VWoA President Jim McLernon resigned amid widening losses. In 1983 VWoA sold its Sterling Heights, Michigan plant back to Chrysler, the same former Chrysler missile plant it had previously purchased to develop as its second North American assembly plant. Subsequently, VWoA sold the former American Motors
American Motors
American Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W...
stamping plant in South Charleston, West Virginia
South Charleston, West Virginia
South Charleston is a city in Kanawha County, West Virginia, U.S. The population was 13,450 at the 2010 census. South Charleston was established in 1906, but not incorporated until 1919 by special charter enacted by the West Virginia Legislature...
and its air-conditioning and plastic-trim plant in Texas to Valeo SA
Valeo
Valeo is a French automotive components manufacturer.-History:The Société Anonyme Française du Ferodo was founded in 1923 in Saint-Ouen, a suburb of Paris...
. Over the Thanksgiving weekend in 1987, Volkswagen announced it would close Westmoreland Assembly and on July 14, 1988, VWoA closed the plant.
After VWoA
After its closing, VWoA sold the welding line, tooling and other production equipment from Westmoreland Assembly to First Automobile WorksFirst Automobile Works
FAW Group Corporation is a state-owned enterprise with publicly traded subsidiaries: FAW Car Company , Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile Co Ltd , Changchun FAWAY Automobile Components Co Ltd ....
of Changchun, China. Unverified reports suggest the actual stamping dies for the Rabbit and Rabbit Pickup may have been used to start Volkswagen Caddy
Volkswagen Caddy
Released in 1980, the first Volkswagen Caddy is a coupe utility, and van based on the Volkswagen Group A1 platform, shared with the small family car Volkswagen Golf Mk1.Volkswagen Typ is:*147 = LHD*148 = RHD-Caddy debuts internationally as a Rabbit:...
and Citi Golf production in South Africa. VWoA sold the facility itself to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the factory remained dormant for several years.
In 1990, Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
announced it would begin manufacturing television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
s at the site. The facility employed more than 3,000 people in the late 1990s, however that number dwindled to just 250 in 2007. On December 9, 2008, Ed Rendell
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell is an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania. Rendell, a member of the Democratic Party, was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 2002, and his term of office began January 21, 2003...
, Governor of Pennsylvania, announced that Sony planned to close the facility.
Automotive News
Automotive News
Automotive News is a weekly newspaper written for 65,000 automotive retailers, suppliers and manufacturers. It is based in Detroit and owned by Crain Communications Inc. The brand has a team of more than 50 editors and reporters worldwide.- History :...
reported in 2005, that the Corporation for Enterprise Development
Corporation for Enterprise Development
The Corporation for Enterprise Development is a national nonprofit based in Washington, DC dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for low-income families and communities. CFED uses an approach grounded in community practice, public policy and private markets...
, a Washington economic think tank, estimated that "taxpayers were left with more than $70 million in incentives and loans used to lure (Westmoreland Assembly), whose promise never fully materialized."
As of 2010, the 2000000 square feet (185,806.1 m²) plant remains idle, the largest block of commercial space available in Western Pennsylvania.
In 1988, Volkswagen spent $1 billion to expand operations in Puebla, Mexico, to build Golfs and Jettas. Twenty-three years after closing Westmoreland, Volkswagen inaugurated its new Chattanooga Assembly Plant
Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant
Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant is an automobile assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee that began production in April 2011, was formally inaugurated in May 2011 and is expected to employ approximately 2,000 once fully operational...
in a "right-to-work" state, one of 22 in the United States that give workers the choice to join or not to join the dominant labor union on the premises — and with an estimated $577 million in incentives.
Overview timeline
- 1968: (September 26) Chrysler announces construction of the New Stanton plant.
- 1969: Chrysler suspends construction of the New Stanton plant while building's steel structure is being erected.
- 1976: (April 23) Volkswagen AG's supervisory board approves Rabbit production beginning in late 1977.
- 1976: (May) Volkswagen tentatively chooses Chryslers abandoned New Stanton plant for it venture.
- 1976: (September), Volkswagen signs papers, committing to Chrysler's New Stanton plant.
- 1976: (October), Volkswagen signs 30 year lease on the New Stanton plant from Chrysler as an empty shell with a dirt floor, changing its name from the New Stanton plant to Westmoreland.
- 1978: VWoA purchases an American MotorsAmerican MotorsAmerican Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W...
stamping plant in South Charleston, West VirginiaSouth Charleston, West VirginiaSouth Charleston is a city in Kanawha County, West Virginia, U.S. The population was 13,450 at the 2010 census. South Charleston was established in 1906, but not incorporated until 1919 by special charter enacted by the West Virginia Legislature... - 1978: (3 April), VWoA completes first car off the assembly line.
- 1978: (10 April), VWoA dedicates Westmoreland, drives the "first car off the assembly line" is a white Rabbit.
- 1978: Minorities picket the site, seeking fair treatment in the hiring process.
- 1978: (October 13) UAW workers stage a wildcat strike at Westmoreland, for salaries equal to those received by General Motors Corporation employees. Picketing workers chant "No Money, No Bunny."
- 1980: (February) VW tentatively decides to build a second U.S. assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
- 1981: (December) Sluggish sales force VWoA to cut production to 856 vehicles a day from an earlier peak of 1,100.
- 1981: (March 31) VWoA Westmoreland manufactures 500,000th car.
- 1982: (September) VWoA President James W. McLernon resigns amid widening losses.
- 1983: (January 7) William B. Brock, assistant administrator of personnel (the most prominent black executive at Westmoreland), commits suicide after a drawn-out controversy of alleged racial discrimination at the plant.
- 1983: VWoA sells its Sterling Heights, Michigan plant it had begun developing as its second North American assembly plant.
- 1983: VWoA ends discussions about joint-venturing with Chrysler at Westmoreland Assembly.
- 1985: (November 15) VWoA Westmoreland manufactures its millionth vehicle.
- 1985: Volkswagen sells former American MotorsAmerican MotorsAmerican Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W...
stamping plant in South Charleston, West VirginiaSouth Charleston, West VirginiaSouth Charleston is a city in Kanawha County, West Virginia, U.S. The population was 13,450 at the 2010 census. South Charleston was established in 1906, but not incorporated until 1919 by special charter enacted by the West Virginia Legislature... - 1987: (November, Thanksgiving weekend) Volkswagen announces it will close Westmoreland Assembly.
- 1988: (July 14), Volkswagen closes Westmoreland Assembly.
- 1988: VW sells its air-conditioning and plastic-trim plant in Texas to Valeo SAValeoValeo is a French automotive components manufacturer.-History:The Société Anonyme Française du Ferodo was founded in 1923 in Saint-Ouen, a suburb of Paris...
. - Volkswagen sells Westmoreland to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
- 1988: Volkswagen spends $1 billion to expand operations in Puebla, Mexico, to build Golfs and Jettas.
- 1990: Sony announces plans to manufacture televisions at plant.
- 2008: Sony announces plans to cease manufacture at the plant of 2000000 square feet (185,806.1 m²).
- 2011: Volkswagen inaugurates its Chattanooga Assembly PlantVolkswagen Chattanooga Assembly PlantVolkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant is an automobile assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee that began production in April 2011, was formally inaugurated in May 2011 and is expected to employ approximately 2,000 once fully operational...
in Tennessee, a "right-to-work" state, one of 22 in the United States that give workers the choice to join or not to join the dominant labor union on the premises.