KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – On Monday morning, representatives from several of the region’s auto part manufacturers attended a special program to learn how to do business with Volkswagen.

The meeting was hosted by the East Tennessee Economic Development Agency on the Pellissippi State campus and featured officials from the German automaker. They detailed VW’s $1 billion plant currently under construction near Chattanooga and the brand new vehicle it will produce that is specifically target at American drivers.

"We're going to be building a brand-new vehicle in Chattanooga and that requires a lot of sourcing, working with a lot of companies here in Tennessee and in the southeast,” said April Wortham, a community relations specialist with Volkswagen. “We've committed to sourcing 80 percent of the parts for the new midsize sedan and it's important for a lot of those suppliers to be close to the plant and Chattanooga."

The new VW plant is located a few miles north of Chattanooga along I-75 on the old Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant. It was selected from more than 400 locations and beat out Detroit, Michigan and Huntsville, Alabama in the final selection round.

Once complete in 2011, the plant will produce 150,000 cars a year and employee 2,000 East Tennesseans.