In this July 31, 2012 photo, workers assemble Volkswagen Passat sedans at the German automaker's plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. State officials are hopeful that a renewed push among state lawmakers to pass a gun bill opposed by VW will not hurt the plant's chances to produce another model like a new SUV prototype the company unveiled last week. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)

* Labour influence key to VW's strategy

* Workers on Friday voted against representation by UAW union

* VW labour representatives to travel to U.S. in next two weeks

By Jan Schwartz and Andreas Cremer

HAMBURG/BERLIN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Volkswagen's works council said it would press on with efforts to set up labour representation at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, undeterred by a workers' vote against any such step involving the United Auto Workers union (UAW).

Employees at the plant, in a region traditionally hostile to organised labour, on Friday opted to reject representation by the union, whose membership has plummeted 75 percent since 1979 and now stands at just under 400,000.

"The outcome of the vote, however, does not change our goal of setting up a works council in Chattanooga," Gunnar Kilian, secretary general of VW's works council, said in a statement on Sunday, adding that workers continued to back the idea of labour representation at the plant.

VW's rise to become one of the top three global carmakers is intertwined with the influence of labour, whose representatives make up half of the group's 20-member supervisory board.

Under the group's "co-determination" policy, workers have a say over matters affecting work rules and the workplace environment while the consensual structure allows management to draw on labour support in decisions on new products and plants.

Kilian said he would travel to the United States to meet labour law experts and start consulting with them in the next two weeks to "define further steps", adding he would be joined by Frank Patta, secretary general of Volkswagen's global works council.

PARAMOUNT TO UNIONS

Opposition to UAW involvement stemmed from concerns among many workers that a union would strain cordial relations with the company, which pays well by local and U.S. auto industry standards.

Some experts contend that VW needs a labour union in the United States to help set up a works council in Chattanooga, where it builds the mid-sized Passat Sedan.

"Representation in Chattanooga is paramount to the unions at VW," said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, head of the Center of Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

"The U.S. are the last blank spot on VW's global map where labour does not yet have a voice. The VW group's works council will do what it can to change that and it's fully backed by management."

Following a 2011-12 sales surge in the United States, VW has hit an American pothole in the road to global supremacy and needs more models designed for U.S. consumers and manufactured completely in the region, analysts say.

The German group, languishing in the bottom third of U.S. quality rankings, ousted its divisional chief Jonathan Browning in December after U.S. deliveries fell 7 percent in 2013 as a push into competitive midsize cars lost traction.

To counter this underperformance, VW is planning to spend $7 billion in the region and build a sport-utility vehicle tailored for the North American market.