Volkswagen to introduce third shift in Zwickau plant

Volkswagen plans to introduce a third shift at its MEB plant in Zwickau from mid-April. This will enable around 1,400 vehicles to be built per day from the summer onwards. Currently production capacity stands around 800 electric cars. Volkswagen Saxony is also getting a new CEO.

The third shift is to work in the second assembly hall in Zwickau. The largely rebuilt Hall 6 has been in ramp-up since October 2020. The third shift is intended to further increase the number of units. Currently, around 800 ID.3 and ID.4 are built per working day in the two halls. When the third shift is fully up and running from the summer, Volkswagen says it will produce more than 1,400 electric cars.

Volkswagen Saxony points out in the press release that four more production start-ups are planned in Zwickau in the coming months – for the group brands Audi, Cupra and Volkswagen. At VW it is the ID.5, i.e. the coupé offshoot of the electric SUV ID.4 – pre-series production is already underway here. At Cupra, it is the recently introduced Born, which resembles the ID.3. At Audi, it is likely to be the Q4 e-tron electric SUV and the Q4 e-tron Sportback SUV coupé, both of which are also based on the MEB.

VW does not specify when exactly the four additional models are to be launched. Since, as mentioned, the pre-series of the ID.5 is already being built, the SUV coupé is probably next. The distribution of the 1,400 vehicles per day among the future six models is also not broken down.

VW also announced that Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH – which includes the Zwickau vehicle plant, the Chemnitz engine plant and the Transparent Factory in Dresden – will have a new boss. Until now, Thomas Ulbrich, eMobility board member of the Volkswagen brand, was chairman of the management board. As Ulbrich has now been appointed the brand’s Chief Development Officer, as reported, he is handing over the management in Saxony to Stefan Loth.

Loth has only been Managing Director for Technology and Logistics at Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH since the beginning of the year, and now takes over as Chairman. Dirk Coers (Human Resources and Organisation) and Karen Kutzner (Finance and Controlling) are also members of the board.

With reporting by Sebastian Schaal, Germany.

Source: Press release via email