CHATTANOOGA (AP) — Volkswagen is planning to expand the test track at its Chattanooga plant so it can better evaluate the new SUV that is scheduled to be built at the facility later this year.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports (http://bit.ly/2c2tRnX) that the expanded track could include a new figure-eight course, a brake-test hill and an inspection pit shelter.

Volkswagen spokesman Scott Wilson says the track is used to verify quality standards on completed vehicles.

The German automaker is in the process of preparing the Chattanooga plant to start making the new SUV before the end of the year, with the as yet unnamed vehicle scheduled to go on sale early in 2017.

The plant has only made the midsized Passat sedan since it opened in 2011.