Volkswagen Chattanooga achieved its first significant production milestone of 2012 this month – completion of its 50,000th Passat. The vehicle was a white 2.5 liter, 170 horsepower Passat SE. The 50,000 vehicles include pre-series cars, technical training cars, dealer experience cars, export cars to Mexico and Canada and customer cars for the U.S. The Volkswagen Chattanooga team celebrated completion of the first customer car on April 18, 2011 and the plant officially opened on May 24, 2011. Volkswagen announced last week that an additional 200 jobs would be created in Chattanooga in addition to the 2,500-person workforce it employs now. Pictured: Volkswagen Chattanooga team members gather around the 50,000th Passat. (Photo provided)