VW pauses production in Zwickau

Volkswagen will not build any cars at its MEB plant in Zwickau in the week after next, according to a media report. Talks are also underway about a break at its second German electric car plant in Emden, but no decision has been made there yet.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported on the plans, and the Zwickau plant has since confirmed the shutdown week to the paper. Zwickau currently builds five MEB-based electric models – the VW ID.3 and Cupra Born on one line, and the mid-size SUVs ID.4, ID.5 and Audi Q4 e-tron (including the Sportback) on the other.

The situation in Zwickau is already tense. The site has been heavily affected by the redistribution of models between plants agreed in the “Christmas Peace 2024” following the wage settlement. Volkswagen plans to move production of the ID.3 and Born to Wolfsburg within the next two to three years, once Golf production ends there and shifts to Mexico. The ID.4, which currently rolls off the production line in both Zwickau and Emden, will only be produced in Emden in the future. VW will discontinue the coupe offshoot ID.5 due to weak demand. According to the December plans, only the Audi Q4 e-tron will remain in Zwickau, along with a new recycling competence centre. However, it remains doubtful whether the Q4 e-tron alone can keep the plant fully utilised – especially as US demand looks set to decline further with import tariffs.

The FAZ also writes that Emden – where VW builds the ID.4 alongside the ID.7 and ID.7 Tourer – could halt production in the same week. However, this has not yet been decided. Talks with the works council are still ongoing, and a decision could follow next week. According to insider information cited by Bloomberg, production lines in Emden are also expected to stop “for several days”.

Zwickau (and possibly Emden) are not the only VW sites facing production pauses. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles confirmed a few days ago that the Hanover plant (T7 Multivan and ID. Buzz) will close for the Lower Saxony autumn holidays and suspend vehicle production.

And earlier this week it emerged that the Stellantis Group plans production pauses at no fewer than six European plants, ranging from a few days to several weeks. Stellantis does not operate pure EV plants like Zwickau and Emden, thanks to its multi-energy strategy. However, almost all of its sites also build electric versions of the series produced there – so the group’s EVs are affected, but not exclusively.

faz.net (in German), bloomberg.com

This article was first published by Sebastian Schaal for electrive’s German edition.