[9] On July 16, 2008, Volkswagen AG announced plans to build its first production facility in the United States[10] since the closure of its Westmoreland Assembly Plant in 1988.

[11] With effective from 12 December 2024, Kjell Gruner is the new Chief Executive Officer of VWoA, taking the helm from Pablo Di Si who has stepped down from the post on his own request.

[12][13] Formed in October 1955 in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, to standardize dealership service in the United States, it grew to 909 Volkswagen dealers in the US by 1965 under the leadership of Dr. Carl Hahn.

From then on, however, intense competition from American and Japanese automakers caused VW sales in America to fall as much as 87 percent between 1970 and 1992, despite the introduction of new front-drive models in 1975 to replace the Beetle and its rear-engined, air-cooled stablemates.

By the end of the decade, thanks to effective advertising and the launch of more competitive new products, including the New Beetle in 1998, the VW brand was back on firmer ground.

[17] In January 2007, Volkswagen of America president Adrian Hallmark publicly stated[citation needed] that he planned to get the subsidiary back to profitability in two to three years.

[citation needed][18] In the meantime, a new advertising agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, helped rejuvenate VW's presence in the U.S. as well.

Due to new air pollution rules promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the diesel powered VWs with TDI-PD technology could no longer be produced after December 31, 2006.

[citation needed] Volkswagen was later charged with three felonies and fined $25 billion for defrauding the American government when it was discovered that their vehicles were only passing laboratory emissions testing due to company tampering of their system's internal software.

The company anticipated that 600 of the 1,400 staff would remain at Auburn Hills in the call center and technical services positions, while 400 jobs would transferred to Virginia.