VW hesitates with relocation of Born production to Wolfsburg

The fact that the two MEB compact cars will no longer be built at their current plant in Zwickau, but instead at VW’s main plant in Wolfsburg, is part of the ‘Christmas truce’ collective agreement between Volkswagen and IG Metall from December 2024. (and probably also the ID.5 offshoot) is to be bundled at Emden in Lower Saxony instead of at two plants, a complete relocation of the ID.3 and Born would have left only the Audi Q3 e-tron and its Sportback offshoot for Zwickau. Whether the Zwickau plant, which is already underutilised with the ID.3/Cupra on one line and the ID.4, ID.5 and Q4 e-tron (Sportback) on the other, can be operated at full capacity with just one model series was quickly called into question after the agreement was reached.

According to a report in Wolfsburger Nachrichten, VW management has now also been “discussing for weeks whether to keep the Cupra Born contingents in Zwickau after all.” The article goes on to say that the Zwickau site would be “effectively finished” if the ID.3 and the Cupra Born were to go to Wolfsburg at the same time. “The Audi models still being produced there (Q4 e-tron and Q4 e-tron Sportback) are not sufficient for adequate employment,” writes Wolfsburger Nachrichten, confirming the corresponding rumours.

The Cupra Born is also not a real volume model. According to the report, a volume of 80,000 vehicles per year is involved, which is probably an optimistic forecast for Born demand in view of previous sales: The Group only sold around 11,000 units in the first quarter.

The next problem is that the 80,000 Born could also be needed in Wolfsburg. This is because production of the Golf, which is to be imported from Mexico in future, will be phased out at VW’s main plant at the end of 2026, also as part of the labour agreement. Hall 54, where the Golf is currently built, will then be converted for the production of the upcoming SSP electric platform. The ID.3 and Born were to be gradually relocated to Wolfsburg to balance out the Golf contingents. If, contrary to these plans, the Born remains in Saxony after all, this could influence capacity utilisation in Wolfsburg.

However, according to the report, a decision on whether the Cupra Born will remain in Zwickau has not yet been finalised. This is because one of the questions is whether Zwickau still has good prospects with the Born. Shortly after the wage agreement, there was already speculation as to whether Audi might also relocate at least part of its production to another plant. This concerns the North American quotas affected by the Trump administration’s import tariffs – the MEB model Q4 e-tron, for example, could also be built in Tennessee with the US version of the ID.4. If Audi were to withdraw the Q4 e-tron from Zwickau, the Born alone would probably not be able to save the plant. Or, as the Wolfsburger Nachrichten newspaper puts it: “The site in Saxony, which has been expensively converted for the production of electric cars, is threatened with an early demise.”

braunschweiger-zeitung.de (in German, paywall)