VW to keep ID.3 and Cupra Born in Zwickau for longer

With this decision, VW Sachsen’s Zwickau plant remains more broadly positioned than most recently planned. That is because the important collective bargaining agreement reached shortly before Christmas 2024 contained some bad news for Zwickau: the two compact MEB models on Line 1, the VW ID.3 and the Cupra Born, were to move to Wolfsburg in 2026 with the facelift of the two model lines. Of the electric SUVs built on Line 2, VW will discontinue the ID.5 and source the ID.4 exclusively from Emden in future (where part of the ID.4 is already built today), leaving Zwickau with only the Audi Q4 e-tron and its Sportback derivative. With just a single model line remaining, the plant, which was already not fully utilised even with more models, appeared to be on the brink. Although Volkswagen plans to locate a competence centre for recycling in Zwickau as well, this would hardly have compensated for the loss of capacity from four models.

Around a year later, however, the situation for the VW plant in Zwickau has improved significantly. During a staff meeting to celebrate the site’s anniversary, management announced that the plans from late 2024 would not be fully implemented. The Cupra Born will continue to be built ‘exclusively’ in Zwickau, and the ID.3 will remain in production in Saxony for longer. The relocation of the Cupra model to Wolfsburg has apparently been cancelled, while the move of the ID.3 has at least been postponed. Rumours of this development had already emerged in May, just a few months after the initial decision.

Volkswagen Sachsen released a statement for the anniversary, but did not mention the revised planning. The statement still says: “In the long run, models will be transferred to other sites.”

The partial reversal is reportedly due to Volkswagen’s decision to ‘reorganise the allocation of its two largest German production sites based on updated volume planning,’ as reported by the German Press Agency (dpa). Automobilwoche also quotes the same internal document. According to this, the ID.3 PA (PA stands for ‘Produktaufwertung,’ or product upgrade, referring to the facelift model) is set to launch in Zwickau in the summer of 2026. From 2027, overflow production of the ID.3 will take place in Wolfsburg, while the ID.3 GTI, reportedly planned for spring 2027, will be produced exclusively at the group’s main plant in Lower Saxony.

The Wolfsburg plant had already been prepared for ID.3 production some years ago, initially intended to handle overflow volumes from Zwickau. However, demand remained lower than expected. While demand for the ID.3 has since increased thanks to several updates, it remains uncertain whether there will be an overflow for Wolfsburg in 2027. Although the product upgrade is imminent, the ID.3, which has been built in Zwickau since 2019, is already somewhat dated. From 2028, however, the entire ID.3 production is set to move to Wolfsburg.

Currently, the Zwickau plant has an annual production capacity of 300,000 electric vehicles. Despite the recent decision ensuring that the site remains a multi-brand plant, a significant change lies ahead for its 8,500 employees: once the ID.3 is fully phased out of Zwickau, production will be reduced from two lines to one. The Cupra Born and Audi Q4 e-tron will then be manufactured together in a single hall. According to Automobilwoche, the 2024 plans for Zwickau included a reduction of 170,000 units by 2030, as Volkswagen Group aims to cut capacity for 735,000 vehicles across Germany. It has not been confirmed whether this target for Zwickau still stands in the current plans, which would leave 130,000 units for Cupra and Audi.

Last week, the Volkswagen Group concluded its so-called planning round for the next five years, albeit with some delay. This process involves not only investments but also the allocation of models to individual plants. Unlike in previous years, Volkswagen has not yet published the results, this is expected to happen at the group’s annual press conference in March. Until then, another rumour is likely to persist: VW is reportedly considering relocating the Audi Q4 e-tron production to the USA. If this happens, Zwickau could once again be left with just one model—albeit a different one than initially anticipated.

sueddeutsche.de (dpa), automobilwoche.de, volkswagen-newsroom.com (all in German)

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