Volkswagen is stepping in a new era. The electric era. the biggest car manufacturer in Europe is now producing its new ID.3 electric car.
The first car in the new generation of electric vehicles (EVs) – a white ID.3 – rolled off the assembly line watched by Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Group CEO Dr. Herbert Diess.
Zwickau has a key role to play in this endeavor: For the first time, a large car manufacturing plant is being entirely converted to e-mobility, with investments running at €1.2 billion. Zwickau is already scheduled to produce some 100,000 electric models next year. From 2021, up to 330,000 EVs will leave the assembly line each year, making the site the largest and most efficient EV factory in Europe and a trailblazer in the transformation of Volkswagen’s global production network.
The ID.3 is based on Volkswagen’s Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB). This is an all- electric platform that leverages to the full the opportunities offered by e-mobility.
Consequently, the ID.3 has a long range, a very spacious interior and dynamic vehicle handling. The basic version is priced at under €30,000 in Germany. The ID.3 will be launched almost simultaneously on markets throughout Europe in summer 2020. Over 35,000 international customers have already reserved an ID.3 and paid a pre-booking deposit.
With the phased transformation of the Zwickau factory, Volkswagen is fully converting a large car manufacturing plant to e-mobility for the first time. Some €1.2 billion is being invested in the conversion. In the final expansion stage from 2021, six MEB models from three Group brands will be built in Zwickau. Qualification measures are preparing all 8,000 employees for EV production and working with high-voltage technology. In total, the Zwickau team will have completed some 13,000 training days by the end of 2020, thus ensuring future-proof jobs at the Zwickau plant.
Apart from manufacturing at the Zwickau factory, the Components plants in Brunswick, Kassel, Salzgitter and Wolfsburg are also involved in ID.3 production. They manufacture key components such as the electric motors or the battery systems. The car manufacturing plants in Emden and Hanover are scheduled to begin building EVs from 2022. Moreover, the Group is also cooperating with Northvolt to set up a major battery cell factory in Salzgitter.
