Volkswagen Group to cut production capacity by 734,000 vehicles per year in Germany
- Last fall, the Volkswagen group announced that it had significant production overcapacity in Europe, particularly in Germany. In particular, it stated that it had been short of more than 500,000 sales each year since 2020 to saturate its production plants. Following these announcements, the closure of three or even four assembly plants in Germany has been expected. VW has finally avoided closing factories in Germany in favour of massive reductions of production capacities, which will result in the end of 35,000 job positions from the company between 2025 and 2030.
- The announced capacity reductions of 734,000 vehicles per year affect the sites of Wolfsburg (-400,000 units out of 800,000), Zwickau (-180,000 out of 360,000), Hanover (-100,000 out of 200,000), Dresden (-27,000 out of 27,000 at the end of 2025. The future of this factory has not yet been decided) and Osnabrück (-27,000 out of 27,000 – production until mid-2027, The future of this factory has not yet been decided).
- In terms of models, the Golf will be gradually transferred from Wolfsburg (Germany) to Puebla (Mexico) except for the new electric version which should be launched in 2028 to replace the ID3. The current VW ID3 and Cupra Born will be transferred from Zwickau (Germany) to Wolfsburg (Germany) alongside the VW Tiguan and Tayron. The VW ID4/ID5 will be transferred from Zwickau (Germany) to Emden (Germany) alongside the VW ID7 and ID7 Tourer. The VW Kombi and Transporter will be transferred from Hanover (Germany) to Kocaeli (Turkey) at Ford. The Dresden (Germany) and Osnabrück (Germany) plants will be converted for activities other than production, in 2025 for Dresden and in 2027 for Osnabrück (end of production of the VW T-Roc convertible). Zwickau will now only produce the Audi Q4 E-Tron. Hanover will now only produce the ID Buzz and Multivan.