The new Tennessee-built Passat meets an ancient Pennsylvania-built Rabbit.
"Welcome to New Stanton," the sign cheerfully announces, but reality speaks a different language. Although the main drag is lined with many of the same franchises that were around in better days, prosperity has long since checked out and moved on to greener pastures. In the late 1970s, however, New Stanton, Pennsylvania, was a model of economic growth. A harbinger of the carefree life was Volkswagen of America, which had set up the nearby Westmoreland Assembly Plant to build the Rabbit, Golf, GTI, Jetta, and, briefly, the Rabbit pickup. Employing in its heyday some 5700 workers, VW's first foray into the automotive holy land ended ignominiously only ten years after it began. The crisis that caused the closure was due to a mix of ill-advised product planning, persistent labor problems, and a swing in buyer preference toward Japanese brands. Two years after VW moved out of the facility, Sony took over and began manufacturing TV sets until Westmoreland was mothballed in 2010.
Photo Gallery: A Tale Of Two Time Travelers: 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI - Automobile Magazine
Photo Gallery: A Tale Of Two Time Travelers: 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI - Automobile Magazine
Source: http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/1201_2012_volkswagen_passat_tdi/index.html
Vittorio Brambilla Toni Branca Gianfranco Brancatelli Eric Brandon
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