VW: Wolfsburg site gets an electric upgrade
German car-maker Volkswagen is making an initial investment of around EUR 460 million to convert the Wolfsburg site into an e-mobility factory over the next 2 years.
The investment is primarily earmarked for preparations to produce the new ID.3. The compact electric car will be leaving the assembly line in Wolfsburg from 2023 – initially in partial production, with full production slated from 2024. Ramp-up is due for completion by the end of 2025, a press release reads.
Post-ID.301 ramp-up, a further all-electric model for the booming SUV segment is to boost Wolfsburg’s capacity utilisation for EV production over the long term. The technical basis for the new model is the Modular Electric Drive System (MEB).
This will be followed by a further pillar for the Wolfsburg site, the Trinity vehicle project. It will be based on the future Group-wide Scalable Systems Platform (SSP). By the end of 2033 at the latest, the Volkswagen brand will only build electric cars in Wolfsburg - as in all of its other factories in Europe.
“Volkswagen stands for electromobility for everyone. And Wolfsburg will be part of this success story. Here at our main plant alone, we will be investing some €460 million by the beginning of 2025, getting the factory ready for the MEB. The ID.301 ramp-up is the first important step towards the electrification of our main plant. At the same time, we are working closely with the Works Council to bring a further electric model based on the MEB+ to Wolfsburg – this will be a high-volume model for the booming SUV segment. With these strong decisions and investments, we intend to bolster the competitiveness of this factory further and give the workforce a concrete long-term perspective", said Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen brand and Group Board Member for the Volume brand group, talking to employees.
The first step towards the factory’s electric future involves re-equipping the site for the ID.301. This electric model will begin leaving the assembly line in Wolfsburg from 2023 – in addition to current production in Zwickau (both Germany). For the largest factory in the entire Volkswagen Group, this is the first all-electric vehicle based on the MEB. Brand CEO Thomas Schäfer indicated there are plans to produce a further model based on the MEB at the main factory in the future.
Volkswagen plans to use the highly-standardised unified cell manufactured at the Group’s own cell factory in Salzgitter (start of production in 2025) in the system.
The lodestar of the strategy remains the Trinity vehicle project based on the highly-scalable SSP platform, the press release continues. The project will get underway in line with staggered software development. A decision on where the vehicle will be built in Wolfsburg has not yet been taken. That is why Volkswagen is keeping the option to build a new factory in Warmenau open.
