Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce President/CEO George Halford is back from a week-long trade mission to Germany, and he's more determined than ever to make sure the Upper Cumberland outshines the competition as a prime location for suppliers to Volkswagen's proposed Chattanooga plant, scheduled for completion in early 2011.

Halford was among 40 delegates invited by Gov. Phil Bredesen and Tennessee Economic Development Commissioner Matt Kisber to travel to Germany Oct. 21-28 and meet with key Volkswagen suppliers looking to locate or expand current operations in the U.S., specifically Tennessee, to support the new plant.

In addition to Halford, the 40 delegates included Brock Hill, mayor of Cumberland County; John Pelham, mayor of Warren County; and 37 other county executives and economic development officials within a 90-mile radius of Chattanooga.

The group visited Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich, which together are home to 67 of Volkswagen's main parts suppliers, and had a day-long meeting with Volkswagen leadership in Wolfsburg, home of the world's largest auto plant, which builds 3,450 cars each day.

At each of these facilities, Halford distributed brochures about the resources available in Tennessee's Highlands area, which comprises Overton, Putnam and White counties, to company officials.

During the trip, Halford learned that there is more local competition for Volkswagen's business than was originally anticipated.

There are 346 sites, 192 buildings and 19,433 acres available for supplier development within a 90-mile radius of Chattanooga, the area into which Cookeville and the Upper Cumberland fall.

The VW plant's potential growth, however, offers tremendous opportunity to our area. Volkswagen plans to invest $1 billion in the Chattanooga plant, where it will manufacture a new, midsize vehicle.

Its goal is to sell one million of those cars per year by 2018, which is part of the company's overall goal to increase its share in the U.S. auto market from its current 2 percent to 10 percent in 10 years.

Officials say they want 85 percent of their parts to be manufactured in the U.S.

Volkswagen is the third largest auto company in the world behind Toyota and General Motors.

It employs 329,300 people worldwide and manufactures nine different automobiles: Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, Bugotti, Bentley, Skoda, SEAT and Scania. Volkswagen makes nearly 10 percent of all autos sold worldwide.

Based on what he learned during the trip, Halford says his priorities now revolve around expediting the infrastructure development of the Highlands Business Park and the Upper Cumberland Regional Airport Business Park and further assessing the nearby competition in terms of acres and number of sites.

The park in Putnam County is expected to be complete by late 2010, shortly before the proposed opening of the Chattanooga plant.

For more information about what the Chamber is doing to attract business to the Upper Cumberland, or to learn more about becoming a member, call 526-2211, or visit their Web site, http://www.cookevillechamber.com/.