ID.4 in Chattanooga, TN

Volkswagen of America on July 26 marked the start of production of its all-electric ID.4 compact SUV in Chattanooga, TN, the company’s first electric vehicle assembled in the U.S.

The ID.4 is Volkswagen Group’s most popular all-electric model, with 190,000 units delivered to customers globally since its launch in 2021.

Volkswagen aims to ramp up ID.4 assembly in Chattanooga to 7,000 vehicles per month later this year, with the goal to further increase output through 2023. Consumers can expect vehicles to be delivered as early as October 2022.

Initially, the American-assembled ID.4 will be available in either rear-wheel- or all-wheel-drive 82kWh battery form. In addition, a rear-wheel-drive version with a 62kWh battery will go into production later in 2022, with a lower MSRP.

“We’re just starting to write a new chapter for Volkswagen in America, and it is very much an American story,” said Thomas Schäfer, chairman of the global Volkswagen brand. “When we promised to bring Volkswagen EVs to the millions, it always included American workers building those EVs right there in Chattanooga. We couldn’t be prouder to see that vision realized today with our ID.4 electric flagship rolling off the lines. This is another milestone in Volkswagen’s ambitious electrification strategy for the U.S. market and globally.”

The start of production is the result of Volkswagen’s $800 million investment into the electrification of its Chattanooga factory, including dedicated facilities for vehicle and battery pack assembly. The factory in Tennessee is now the sixth global site to produce vehicles for Volkswagen’s electric line-up.

The American-assembled ID.4, Volkswagen’s electric SUV flagship, will be mainly sourced in the North American region, particularly the U.S. The vehicle includes materials and components assembled in 11 U.S. states, from steel in Alabama and Ohio, to interior parts in Indiana and South Carolina, and electronics components in Kentucky and North Carolina. The EV battery will be supplied by SK Innovation located in Georgia.

As part of the preparation to launch the ID.4, suppliers have invested $2.7 billion throughout the North American continent, including the battery partnership with SK Innovation. More than 3,000 U.S. jobs on supplier side have been created.

“There has been a tremendous effort by thousands of VW Chattanooga employees to bring this vision to life,” said Chris Glover, president and CEO, Volkswagen Chattanooga Operations, LLC. “I’d like to thank all our highly motivated team members and the extended community of Chattanooga for supporting us as we begin assembly of the ID.4 for the North American market.”

Volkswagen Chattanooga employs more than 4,000 people, and is actively hiring more than 1,000 new production team members through 2022, to help meet high customer demand for the ID.4 and Atlas SUV family. To prepare for the EV transition, the factory has organized more than 75,000 hours of workforce training on battery-powered vehicle and high-voltage systems.

Volkswagen has committed $7.1 billion over the next five years in the North American region to boost its product portfolio, regional R&D and manufacturing capabilities. The brand will advance its electric line-up through 2030, including the American-assembled ID.4 in 2022, a fastback sedan and the ID. Buzz electric microbus in 2024, and new electric SUVs from 2026. Volkswagen aims for 55% of U.S. sales to be fully electric by 2030.

Source: Volkswagen of America

cesses, we collect 86% of all quoted collision repairs in North America, whether the quote is taken through a body shop or any insurance carrier.” Even if that quote doesn’t reach an insurer, Schulenburg said he was told, “that data goes into our system within 24 hours.”

The 40-plus data fields the company said it has include on a daily basis more than 62,000 VINs and 135,000 quotes---written by shops or insurers. It includes customer name and contact information—address, phone and email—where the

This summer’s Collision Industry Conference (CIC) in Pittsburgh drew hundreds of attendees from around the country

collision occurred and where the repair quote was generated. It includes nearly $72 million of quoted parts per day, and the year, make, model and mileage of vehicles along with body, trim and engine descriptions.

The revelation was of interest to a CIC committee that, like SCRS and other organizations, has been looking into how shop estimate information sometimes ends up as entries on vehicle history reports. Schulenburg said the company offering to sell the data was not one he, nor anyone else he has talked to about it, has heard of.

“The point here is not that they have this data, but it’s where they are getting it from,” Schulenburg said.

The founder of the company, who Schulenburg said he spoke to after the initial call, said a non-disclosure agreement prevented him from revealing the source of the data; he told Schulenburg he couldn’t say more because “if I answer too many questions, you’ll figure it out.” He said it was a company Schulenburg would know because their primary business model “has something to do in collision,” and that licensing the data to be sold is “just a side stream of revenue.”

He confirmed it was not coming from public registries, DMVs or police reports, Schulenburg said.

“It is coming from a data aggregator, who is selling it,” Schulenburg said. “There’s a lot of good companies out there that are utilizing data to do the right thing for this industry. And there’s at least one company who is not doing the right thing. There’s at least one company that is turning it into a separate revenue stream to take the information you shared with them for one intended purpose, and selling it to someone else to sell for an entirely different purpose that you didn’t intend.”

The leaders of the CIC committee, knowing Schulenburg’s long-standing work on data privacy issues, noted the irony that a data aggregator selling such information would contact him.

“It was a complete shock to us that something like that would fall into Aaron’s lap,” said Dan Risley of CCC Intelligent Solutions, cochair of the committee. “I’m glad that it did, though, because I think more discussions will be had.”

Risley said it may be a good reminder that vehicle history reporting companies such as CARFAX “shouldn’t be viewed as ‘public enemy No. 1.’”

During the committee’s panel discussion following Schulenburg’s presentation, Connecticut attorney Steven Bloch said while issues related to shop estimates resulting in entries on vehicle history reports is troubling, the detailed estimate information being offered for sale poses even greater risks.

“What’s of great concern is that a VIN, certainly in combination with personal identifiable information such as Aaron was ticking off—the [customer] name, address, insurance company, plate number—all combines to potentially run afoul of various state and federal [data privacy] legislation, which is only getting stricter, with more scrutiny being paid to everybody in the supply chain,” Bloch said.

Panelist Pete Tagliapietra of DataTouch, LLC, agreed.

“The information going to the vehicle history companies is the ice above the waterline,” he said. “What’s below the waterline? For you shop owners out there, what’s below the waterline is all of your DRP relationship information: who you have DRP relationships with. What your negotiated labor rate is. Who you buy parts from. What discounts you offer. Anything that can be gleaned off that estimate is being taken, compiled and aggregated, and being used for other purposes.”

Though some believe estimate data finds its way to CARFAX or vehicle history reports after the VIN and other information is sent to “live” parts locating services during the estimating process, Tagliapietra blamed thousands of “data pumps” running on shop computer systems, scraping estimate data sometimes without a shop’s knowledge or consent.

Virginia shop owner Barry Dorn asked the panel how a shop can know a company that says it is only pulling limited estimate data needed for a specific purpose---like parts locating or customer satisfaction indexing—is actually doing only just that.

“You can’t. Not yet. But you will,” said Tagliapietra, whose company is developing a service to root out data pumps on shops’ computers systems.

Panelist Tom Allen of Condition Now said he understands body shops’ frustration with their estimate data resulting in an entry on a given vehicle’s CARFAX or other history report.

“The shop becomes the face of this incident,” Allen said. “The officer directing traffic [at the accident scene] may come and go. The insurance company may be just a voice on the other end of the line, or the other side of the app. But the first human we see in this instance is the shop. I believe they get the brunt of things, right or wrong.”

Allen said his company for about a decade has offered a way for body shops “to control the negative,” a way to use a vehicle history report to “show the good, not the bad,” by playing up the use of OEM parts in the repair of the vehicle, for example.

“Our goal is to actually document that stuff in a way that is helpful to Mrs. Jones, the customer,” Allen said. “To show, not only did we fix your car properly, it was done with OEM certified repair procedures.”

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