LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. ─ VW Credit Inc. (VCI) broke ground this week on a 30,000-square-foot expansion of its Libertyville facility. Expected to be completed early next year, the multimillion-dollar expansion will allow the company to add approximately 150 new jobs the captive finance company expects to create through 2018.

The VCI Libertyville facility currently employs nearly 500 employees, making VW Credit one of the largest employers in the town of Libertyville. Expansion plans include additional workstations and conference rooms, a larger dining area, fitness center, as well as accommodate a total of 650 parking spaces.

“VW Credit, Inc. has been experiencing an upsurge in growth in recent years, and we are pleased to be able to create additional jobs to accommodate this growth,” said Andrew Stuart, CEO and president of VW Credit. “VW Credit’s expansion, coupled with increased U.S. sales among our brands during the first quarter of 2012 by 40 percent, aligns with Volkswagen Group of America’s ambitious growth strategy.”

In 2011, Volkswagen Group of America sold more than 444,000 units, an increase of 23.3 percent through its Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti brands in the U.S. market.

VW Credit, which was founded in 1981, has been operating from the Franklin Boulevard site in Libertyville since 1999. It maintains operational and customer service centers in Libertyville, Ill. and Portland, Ore.; a remarketing department in Auburn Hills, Mich.; as well as regional offices in Westlake Village, Calif., Alpharetta, Ga., Woodcliff Lake, N.J., Irving, Texas, and Pleasant Prairie, Wis.