Volkswagen's chief executive said on Tuesday after a meeting at the White House that the German automaker was building an alliance with Ford Motor Co. and might use the U.S. automaker's plants to build cars.

VW CEO Herbert Diess said the company was also considering building a second car plant. 

"We are in quite advanced negotiations and dialog with Ford Corporation to really build up a global automotive alliance, which also would strengthen the American automotive industry."

Ford did not immediately comment Tuesday but the automakers have said previously they talking about potential collaborations across a number of areas.

VW has an assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Of the need for a new plant, Diess said the company is in "quite advanced negotiations in Tennessee but there might be other options as well."

Diess said VW would not take an equity stake in Ford as part of its alliance. "We are building an alliance with Ford which will strengthen Ford's position in Europe because we will share platforms," he said. "We might use Ford capacity here in the U.S. to build cars for us."

Diess said VW planned to talk more about the Ford alliance in January.