VW Planning New Parts Center

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.--With growing regional sales and an expanding pattern of buyers in the in the southwest and west, Volkswagen of America plans to build a new Parts Distribution Center (PDC) in Texas that will serve seven surrounding states.

The new PDC will be constructed in the Alliance Development in Hazlett, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth. The Alliance Development is a 9,600-acre, master-planned international trade and logistic center. The development has an industrial airport and intermodal rail hub center.

Volkswagen’s developer is Hazlett’s Hillwood Development Co. Gromatzky, Dupree and Associates is designing the 360,000 square-foot building to be Volkswagen’s largest PDC in North America. The facility will house more than 85,000 part numbers on 24 acres of land.

Lincoln Builders Inc. of Fort Worth and Volkswagen will formally celebrate a groundbreaking for the facility November 27, and the firms expect it to be operational by July 2001. When complete, the facility will employ between 50 and 100 workers to serve 51 Volkswagen and 23 Audi dealerships. The Hazlett PDC will be centrally located to serve dealers from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.

Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America Inc. is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Mich. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, the fourth largest producer of passenger cars in the world, and the operation markets Volkswagens and Audis through a network of about 600 Volkswagen and 270 Audi dealers. In the United States, Volkswagen has sold more than 10 million cars and is the country’s top-selling European importer.