New VW mid-size sedan to start at $20,000, arrive in 2012

As part of a far-reaching interview with Stefan Jacoby, Volkswagen's North American CEO, Automotive News has fleshed out some new details about the German automaker's forthcoming Chattanooga, Tennessee-built sedan, as well as the potential viability of the Polo subcompact in the States.

In the main, Jacoby allowed that the unnamed Chattanooga-built sedan will hit the market in the spring of 2012, with a targeted price tag of "around $20,000," and the car is tipped to rely on versions of the company's 2.0-liter and 2.5-liter engines that are already in production. Although the design has not yet been made public, Jacoby notes that the car was finalized over the last few weeks in Wolfsburg, and a rendering of the car (above) leaked out in February.

What else will be made in VW's new Tennessee plant? At the moment, there have been no firm decisions, but up for consideration, says Jacoby, are a compact SUV, a mid-size SUV, or something from "the Polo family."

About the latter – Jacoby says they have polled the company's dealership body in the States, and their response has been that the vehicle is not large enough to succeed in America. That said, VW appears to be considering a next-generation Polo sedan and/or a larger hatchback. While stopping short of confirming a model, VW's CEO did sound quite positive about the chances for a Polo when he said: "We are investigating what model we should start with and when we should start -- in 2011 or 2012."

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