Volkswagen of America has signed a new 10 year lease for its office center on Hamlin Road in Auburn Hills, company officials.
  Jonathan Browning, president of chief executive officer of Volkswagen of America, said Wednesday Auburn Hill will remain the second largest concentration of employees in the U.S with nearly 1,100  fuil-time and contract  employees.
  VOA does plant to concentrate all of its local employees in the building on Hamlin Road, which had served as the company’s headquarters before was moved to Herndon, Virginia, just outside Washington D.C. The VOA employees from a second building will be moved to the Auburn Hills building, Browning said during annual Automotive News World Congress.
  The largest concentration of VOA employees in the U.S. where VOA’s parent company, German auto giant VW AG of Wolfsburg, Germany, has invested $1 billion in a brand new assembly plant.
  VW spokeswoman Sheriece Matias said “the potential Is there” for the number of employees in Auburn Hills to increase.
 The Auburn Hills center is currently staffed by 384 full-time VW employees and another 649 contract employees, she said. “It’s really the core of the company,” she said. It houses the warranty and test center for Volkswagen and  Audi vehicles in North America as well as customer-care functions and quality effort.
 VOA has used the building for more than 20 years since it moved from Troy to the building in Auburn Hills.
 Matias said VOA has filed paperwork with the Auburn Hills City Council for improvements it plans to make to the building in the near future.
 Earlier this week, VOA rolled out  the 2012 Volkswagen Passat during the press previews at the North American International Auto, which  it plans to build at thje new assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.. Production is scheduled to start in Tennessee  in the first part of 2011. The car has been is large enough satisfy customers looking for mid-sized cars in a segment long dominated by the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.
 Earlier this month, VOA reported that December sales increased 17 percent over prior year sales for the entire line of vehicles. In addition, 2010 achieved a 20 percent increase over 2009 total year sales. Increased sales numbers resulted in best annual sales since 2003 and best December sales since 2005.